JOIN USCongress to contest 25 seats in Tamil Nadu in DMK-Congress seat sharing pact
Congress and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), leader of the Opposition alliance in Tamil Nadu, on Sunday clinched their seat-sharing deal under which the national party will contest 25 assembly constituencies in the April 6 election.
Congress will also contest the by-elections to Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat, which fell vacant due to the death of incumbent H Vasanthakumar due to Covid-19. The Congress and BJP will be locked in an intense battle for the Lok Sabha seat.
The seat-sharing agreement was signed between DMK President M K Stalin and Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) chief K S Alagiri in the presence of Dinesh Gundu Rao, AICC in-charge for Tamil Nadu. The agreement preceded a meeting that the aforementioned two Congress leaders had with Stalin late Saturday night during which election strategist Prashant Kishor is believed to have been present.
“We have signed the seat-sharing deal with DMK and we will be contesting in 25 Assembly seats. In the spirit of cooperation (we have signed this deal) because the country is facing a big threat today not just in terms of ideological battle but also to save democracy,” Rao told reporters.
“We have seen how BJP is running the country through dictatorship toppling governments, destroying democratic institutions and using its power to destabilise and finish off opposition parties. The BJP's agenda in Tamil Nadu is also the same and they want to finish off the AIADMK by aligning with the party,” he added.
The sealing of the deal comes after three rounds of official talks and several rounds of unofficial talks between the two parties. As the DMK refused to allot 30 seats as sought by the party, leaders of the Congress engaged in hectic consultations for three days in Chennai during which some even suggested that “self-respect” was more important than alliance.
Congress, which contested in 41 assembly seats and won 8 in 2016 election, was upset with DMK's initial offer of 18.
However, the amicable solution was arrived at during a meeting between AICC in-charge for Tamil Nadu Dinesh Gundu Rao, and DMK MP Kanimozhi on Saturday night. “DMK's final offer was 24 seats as per the formula of three assembly seats for one Lok Sabha seat won by the Congress in 2019. We sought one more seat to make it 25, and it was agreed to,” a senior Congress leader told DH. “Of course, we got the number approved from Delhi,” he added.
Not just local Congress leaders, former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram also spoke in favour of the party continuing in the DMK-led alliance to keep the AIADMK and BJP out of power in Tamil Nadu. “Majority of the local leaders, though upset with the numbers offered by DMK, were of the opinion that the alliance should continue in the interests of the state. The High Command went by the opinion of the TNCC,” another leader said.