DMK may offer 30 seats to Congress

Chennai: The DMK will begin the next round of talks with the Congress after allotment of seats to minor parties and hopes to clinch a deal within this week by offering around 30 seats to national party.

The first round of talks between the Congress and DMK was held last week and no decision on the number of seats to the Congress was taken. As the Congress insisted on 50 to 60 seats, the DMK leaders had explained the necessity of allocating seats to minor parties joining the alliance. The Congress leaders had preferred to wait till the allocation for smaller parties is completed and commence the negotiations after that.

The DMK has allocated five seats each to the Indian Union Muslim League and Manitha neya Makkal Katchi. The Congress leaders will meet the DMK team after the allocation of seats to the smaller parties. Members of the Congress panel discussing seat arrangements met at the party headquarters here and deliberated on the number of seats to be demanded from the DMK, besides chalking out details on the specific seats wanted by the party leaders.