Stalin, Venugopal to meet as DMK-Cong seat-sharing talks gather pace
Chennai: With preparations for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections gaining momentum, political parties have intensified efforts to finalise candidates, firm up alliances, and conclude seat-sharing arrangements.
The ruling DMK and the AIADMK are understood to have largely outlined their respective alliance frameworks, while smaller parties are expected to clarify their positions in the coming days.
Against this backdrop, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M.K. Stalin is scheduled to meet Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal at 8 p.m. on Sunday in Chennai.
Venugopal, who is arriving from New Delhi, will be accompanied by Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K. Selvaperunthagai and senior Congress leader Girish Chodankar.
The meeting is expected to focus primarily on seat-sharing arrangements between the DMK and the Congress as part of the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), which is led by the DMK in the state.
The Congress, a key ally of the DMK, had constituted a five-member committee in November last year under the leadership of Girish Chodankar to negotiate seat-sharing terms with its alliance partner.
For nearly three months, the party had been urging the DMK to formally constitute its own negotiation panel to initiate discussions.
Responding to these developments, DMK general secretary Duraimurugan recently announced a seven-member seat-sharing committee headed by party treasurer and former Union Minister T.R. Baalu, MP, to hold discussions with alliance partners.
The committee has already initiated talks, beginning with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). A five-member IUML delegation led by its leader Kader Mohideen met the DMK panel earlier on Sunday for preliminary discussions on seat-sharing.
Sources indicated that during the meeting with Stalin, the Congress is expected to press for a larger share of seats than it was allotted in the 2021 Assembly elections. In that election, the Congress had contested 25 seats as part of the DMK-led alliance and secured victory in 18 constituencies.
Sources further said that Venugopal is likely to present a list of priority constituencies to Stalin as part of the ongoing negotiations.
Following the meeting, further rounds of discussions are expected to take place between the DMK’s seat-sharing committee and the Congress negotiation panel to finalise the arrangement.
Although the DMK had earlier indicated that formal alliance talks would begin from February 22, Sunday’s meeting suggests that negotiations have now entered a crucial phase.
The outcome of these discussions is expected to play a key role in shaping the final contours of the DMK-led alliance ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.