DMK wraps up seat-sharing with allies

 Chennai: The DMK-led coalition in the State has survived, overcoming all the obstacles that cropped up during the talks on seat-sharing for the Lok Sabha elections, with the VCK and MDMK formally agreeing to accept what was offered by the alliance leader on Friday and the Congress, too, waiting keenly to sort out the differences and sign the deal in a day or two.

Under the agreement signed by DMK president, M K Stalin, and VCK general secretary Thol Thirumavalavan, the VCK would field candidates from Villupuram and Chidambaram (both reserved) constituencies as they did in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, but under an exclusive election symbol, by giving up on its demand for an additional general constituency that was the bone of contention till now.

Before signing the pact at the DMK headquarters, Anna Arivalayam, Thirumavalavan called on Stalin at the Secretariat and held discussions. Also the MDMK agreed to contest in a seat that would be decided on later as the demand for Trichy was not agreeable to the DMK. MDMK general secretary Vaiko signed the agreement with Stalin at Anna Arivalayam.

The major ally of the DMK, the Congress, is firm on its stand in getting nine seats (including one in Puducherry) as the party had won nine constituencies in 2019 and DMK sources said that the deal might be clinched in a day or two as they might be given what they were demanding.

The demand for a single seat by another ally, the Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (MMK), too, might be acceded to though the party would be asked to contest under DMK’s ‘Rising Sun’ symbol, leaving only the settlement with Makkala Needhi Maiam (MNM) pending.

The MNM, which wants two seats while the DMK was offering just one, had already made it clear that it would contest only under its own ‘Torchlight’ symbol and not in the ‘Rising Sun’ as requested by the DMK. If the DMK agrees for two seats, the deal will be over with all parties though the next conflagration might erupt over seat allotment.

Since the Congress does not want to change the constituencies, from where its candidates have triumphed and established themselves, the DMK’s refusal to allot any or some of them might rock the alliance boat once again in the next week. But sources said that would be handled easily as the primary goal of all the allies was to win the elections and repeat their performance of 2019.

However, a churning in seat allocation might also witness some changes in the agreements entered into so far as the indication was there in the DMK-VCK pact that has a mention of a confirmation of the signed agreement after seat-sharing was finalised with other parties.

Also among the party leaders who visited Arivalayalam were those from the All India Forward Bloc After one of their leaders called on rival AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and extended support, three others – State General Secretary S Karnan and two national secretaries S Suresh Devan and P S Devan met DMK organization secretary R S Bharathi and pledged their support to the alliance.