Retain Cong’s LS seat tally in State: TNCC
State unit leaders urge Sonia Gandhi to win a satisfactory deal from the DMK
TNCC leaders with Sonia and Priyanka during a party meeting in Chennai
CHENNAI: Leaders of the Tamil Nadu Congress on Saturday presented a strong case with their boss Sonia Gandhi for retaining the party’s share of seats (Ten seats) in their alliance with the DMK.
TNCC leaders, comprising state party president K S Alagiri, legislature party leader K Selvaperunthagai and all MPs and MLAs among others were learnt to have insisted during their interaction with Sonia that they (Congress) must not settle for anything less than the 10 seats (including Puducherry) allocated by the DMK to the party in the 20I9 Lok Sabha election.
An elected representative of the Congress party who was a part of the discussion disclosed to DT Next that the emphasis was on retaining at least the previous allocation of ten seats.
The meeting took place at the star hotel Sonia and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra resided in. Revealing that Sonia responded in the affirmative to at least the TNCC retaining the previous tally of 10 seats in 2024 LS polls, a state Congress leader who aired his views during the discussion said that the choice of constituencies was not flagged to a great extent in the meeting.
“We insisted that the party must be firm on at least retaining the ten-seat tally. Constituencies could change a bit. So, we are open to it,” the leader added.
The discussion between TNCC leaders and Sonia happens in the backdrop of speculation that the DMK might push the Congress to accede a couple of seats in the interest of the alliance and reduce its numbers to around eight LS tickets.
However, a TNCC senior said after the meeting that it was a habit of the DMK to start negotiations like that and finally oblige.
Meanhwile, an agency report stated, Karti Chidambaram revealed the Congress leaders had a transparent discussion with her and Priyanka on the action plan for the future, the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and the strengthening of the party.
He said the party deliberated on the INDIA bloc’s strength vis-à-vis the Parliamentary election and added, “We have assured that we will win all the constituencies (the 39 segments in Tamil Nadu),” he said.
Though there is no “compulsion” that the party should contest from the same constituencies, there should however, be no cut in the total number of seats, Karti insisted.