Cong to contest 10 seats in TN, Puducherry

Congress and DMK on Wednesday finalised their seat-sharing arrangement under which the national party will contest 10 Lok Sabha constituencies, including Puducherry, in the alliance led by the Dravidian outfit.

The agreement was signed between DMK President M K Stalin and Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President K S Alagiri at the Anna Arivalayam, DMK Head Quarters, in the presence of AICC General Secretaries K C Venugopal and Mukul Wasnik.

Though the number of seats were agreed during a meeting between Congress President Rahul Gandhi and DMK MP Kanimozhi, also the half-sister of Stalin on Tuesday, the formal announcement was made by Stalin after Venugopal and Wasnik met him.

“As part of the DMK alliance, the Congress has been allotted 10 seats out of which nine will be from Tamil Nadu and one from Puducherry,” Stalin told reporters after inking the deal. He added that the DMK will begin consultations with like-minded parties who have been fighting against the Union Government and State Government along with the party for the past few years. Congress contested 10 seats in 2004 as part of DMK alliance and won all of them.

The DMK President said his party will decide about the by-elections to 21 assembly constituencies when the poll dates are announced by the Election Commission. He also dismissed reports that DMDK led by actor Vijayakant might join the DMK alliance. Other constituents of the alliance are Left, VCK and MDMK. After allotting seats for its alliance partners, the DMK hopes to contest in at least 22-24 seats. DMK and Congress have been alliance partners since 2004 except between 2013 and 2016.

On his part, Venugopal said the nation has been waiting for the DMK-Congress alliance since the BJP Government led by Narendra Modi had failed to fulfil promises made to people during the 2014 polls. “We are expecting 100 per cent results from Tamil Nadu and we are expecting very good results from Tamil Nadu which will be a vote against Narendra Modi and Tamil Nadu Governments,” Venugopal said.

He added that the Congress was fully satisfied with the deal clinched with DMK.

Congress sources said they have sought more than five constituencies in South Tamil Nadu, where the party still holds considerable influence in pockets, apart from South Chennai, Salem, Erode, Arani and Krishnagiri. The seats in South Tamil Nadu that have been sought are Sivaganga, Virudhunagar, Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli, Theni and Ramanathapuram.

Former Union Minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti, AICC Secretary and former MPs Manicka Tagore and J M Haroon are the frontrunners for Sivaganga, Virudhunagar and Theni seats. Tagore and Haroon had won from the seats in previous elections. The Congress and DMK had announced their alliance for Lok Sabha elections last year and Stalin becoming the first ally to project Congress President Rahul Gandhi as the combine’s Prime Ministerial candidate.