DMK, Congress to hold seat sharing talks on Jan 28

CHENNAI: The DMK and its ally Congress will commence their seat sharing talks for the 2024 Parliamentary elections here on January 28.

According to highly placed sources, the talks would be held between the seat sharing committees of both teams at DMK headquarters Anna Arivalayam on Sunday.

The National Alliance Committee comprising its convenor Mukul Wasnik and senior leaders Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel and Salman Khurshid would visit the state on Sunday.

The Congress team would hold negotiations with the DMK seat sharing team led by its treasurer T R Baalu at Anna Arivalayam on Sunday.

The Congress party is confident of retaining its old tally of 10 seats (including Puducherry) in Tamil Nadu.

However, the ruling DMK is determined to drive a hard bargain and reduce it by at least a seat or two. Though the number of seats, mainly compromise on a seat or two on either side might not be cause of concern between the allies, who have faced most elections together since 2006 except a brief separation between 2013 and 2016, the actual dispute could arise in identification of constituencies.

The DMK, it has been learned, is unwilling to part with a few seats the Congress has been consistently contesting over the last few Parliamentary polls in the same alliance. Significantly, the same constituencies held by the Congress belong to some state leaders favoured by the national high command too.

The Congress, which contested in 10 seats in 2019 LS polls, won all but the lone Theni Parliamentary constituency it conceded to the AIADMK. Alliance composition of the DMK led Secular Progressive Alliance that predates the INDIA bloc at the national level remains unchanged since the 2019 LS polls.