JOIN USCongress, DMK begin seat-sharing talks in Puducherry ahead of assembly polls
Congress, leader of the alliance in Puducherry, and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Sunday decided to continue their alliance for the April 6 Assembly elections by launching the first round of talks to arrive at a seat-sharing deal.
Former Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, Puducherry Congress chief A V Subramanian, Puducherry Congress MP V Vaithilingam met with a DMK delegation led by party convenor in the Union Territory, S P Sivakumar, and others, hours after the two parties clinched their seat-sharing deal in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
Congress and DMK fought the 2016 Assembly election in an alliance and won 15 and two seats each respectively. However, the Congress government led by Narayanasamy lost its majority just a few days before the Assembly elections were announced after five Congress legislators and one from DMK resigned their posts.
“We held preliminary discussions and exchanged our views. We will continue our discussions and arrive at a final agreement in the next few days,” Narayanasamy told reporters after the meeting. The meeting assumes significance as it comes just two months after the Puducherry unit of DMK appealed to the leadership to allow the party to contest all 30 seats in the UT.
Sources said the two parties will iron out all differences, if any, in the next few days and finalise the seat-sharing pact. The Congress and DMK combine will face tough competition from a resurgent N R Congress, the principal Opposition party in the UT, which is likely to face the elections alone. BJP's efforts to have a tie-up with N R Congress is yet to fructify.