Chennai: The long-time ties between the Congress and the DMK that was seen dithering of late due to the hard bargaining by leaders of both the parties on seat sharing for the Lok Sabha elections are likely to be salvaged following the timely intervention of Chief Minister and DMK President M K Stalin.
Stalin, who visited the party headquarters, Anna Arivalayam, on Thursday discussed the progress of the negotiations with the alliance partners with the committee formed to finalise seat sharing and seat allocation deals and reportedly told them to be flexible with the allies and wrap it all up by Sunday.
So, the Congress that was demanding a minimum of nine seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, as it had won nine of the 10 allotted to them in 2019, and refused to scale it down might have its way in the next few days when they visited Anna Arivalayam for signing the agreement.
TNCC president K Selvaperunthogai, too, told media persons on Thursday that the alliance talks were going on smoothly and that it would be finalized in a day or two. Disputes in the alliance talks first crept in after the DMK wanted to reduce the number of seats to the Congress as it had to distribute the 40 seats (39 in the State and one in Puducherry) to more allies this time.
Next, with the DMK refusing to accede the same seats that the Congress candidates had won in 2019 and even suggesting that some candidates should not be fielded again, leaders in the Congress, particularly those from New Delhi who were assigned for the alliance negotiations, took a tough stand questioning the right of the DMK to interfere in their internal affairs.
Since both parties dug in their heels, the talks led to a stalemate, even giving rise to the fear that the tie-up might break, despite the national ramifications that it might have. So Stalin intervened and told his party members assigned with the task of finalizing the agreement to be flexible and ensure that it was done.
The DMK’s climb down might also lead to the VCK getting the desired three seats – one up from 2019 – that was being shot down so far. Since the VCK wanted to field Aadhav Arjuna as the third candidate – earlier Thol Thirumavalavan and D Ravikumar were elected in 2029 – it also demanded a general category constituency, which was resisted by the DMK leaders.
MDMK, which too had some differences with the DMK leaders on their request to contest the lone seat assigned to them on the DMK’s ‘Rising Sun’ symbol, had come around after holding a meeting in Chennai of its top office-bearers. Now the MDMK, which is fighting a legal battle to regain the ‘Top’ symbol, would contest under that traditional symbol if the verdict was in their favour. In the event of them not getting back the symbol they would settle for the ‘Rising Sun.’
However, when the talks on seat allocation comes up next, there could be some disagreements once again because the MDMK is said to be keen on Virudhunagar, from where Congress candidate Manik Tagore won in 2019 and might want to contest from there again. Similarly, the DMK too wants some of the seats that the Congress had won in 2019 like Karur, Sivaganga, and Trichy.
Meanwhile, a DMK functionary, Shimla Muthuchozhan, who is the daughter-in-law of a former State Minister S P Sarguna Pandian, defected from the party and joined the AIADMK. She also met AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, causing mild ripples in the party circles. Muthuchozhan had shot into fame in 2016 when she was fielded against former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in R K Nagar constituency.
With the possibility of alliance talks ending in a day or two, both the DMK and AIADMK had called for interviews of aspirants from Sunday, March 10. The DMK had received 2984 applications from aspirants from all the 39 constituencies in the State during the week.
