DMK offers max 7+1 seats for Cong in TN and Pondy
GOP reportedly sought around dozen seats in first round of talks
CHENNAI: Expectations of the State Congress to have smooth negotiations in Tamil Nadu for the Lok Sabha polls evaporated as soon as the first round of negotiations began with alliance leader DMK. The DMK is driving a hard bargain with ally Congress this time.
While the State Congress unit was unofficially planting stories that the party had prepared a wish list of 22 seats to be submitted to the DMK a fortnight ago, the Dravidian party gave a reality check to the grand old party.
If sources in both parties are to be believed, the DMK is understood to have opened its offer with a measly six seats when the two parties met at DMK headquarters Anna Arivalayam earlier this month.
A highly placed DMK source disclosed that the seat-sharing team of the party headed by its treasurer TR Baalu had offered six seats, including Puducherry.
However, the national party opened its negotiation, demanding a few more than a dozen seats, an unrealistic number that surprised the DMK negotiators.
According to a State Congress senior who did not wish to be quoted, the DMK had improved its offer by one seat to seven Lok Sabha constituencies, which did not impress the national party that is facing much worse treatment from its allies of the INDIA bloc elsewhere.
“We need Congress in the alliance. There is no doubt about that. They badly need us, and that too after some of its allies like AAP, AITMC, and Samajwadi Party ruthlessly spurned them in Goa, Delhi, Punjab, Assam, West Bengal, and UP. We are not being exploitative. We are just being realistic. The Congress must realise that we need to accommodate all allies and we can’t be generous like in 2019,” said the DMK senior, unwilling to be quoted.
“Right now the offer stands at 8 seats, including Puducherry. This is the best we can do. For some reason, our leadership seems very determined to restrict them to the eight this time. Our Thalaivar (leader) might increase it by one seat in case the Gandhis directly speak to him like they did last time. Even then, there is no guarantee that he will blink this time, “ said the DMK senior.
