Seat sharing: Congress may retain Kumari, CPM unsure of Madurai

CHENNAI: The Congress can heave a sigh of relief ahead of its second round of seat sharing talks with the DMK on February 9. Consultations held by the DMK poll coordination committee with the district-level functionaries indicate that the Congress could be sure to retain one of its favourite sitting seats.

DMK functionaries from Kanniyakumari, who expressed their views to the DMK high command on the ensuing parliamentary polls on Tuesday, were understood to have expressed willingness to allot Kanniyakumari seat again to the Congress. However, the committee, consisting of Ministers EV Velu, Thangam Thennarasu and Udhayanidhi Stalin, was told to allot the seat to the Congress on condition that the DMK would not be equally generous in the 2026 Assembly polls.

Highly placed DMK sources privy to the meeting disclosed that the Kanniyakumari party unit insisted on the DMK contesting in seats like Colachel and Vilavancode among others and not generously allotting them again to the Congress in 2026. Unsurprisingly, the consultation for Thoothukudi constituency held on Tuesday morning was no brainer. The high command as well as the local party units only harped over increasing the victory margin of sitting MP and party deputy general secretary Kanimozhi Karunanidhi in the district, which faced a deadly deluge claiming around 35 lives in the recent months.

However, the biggest surprise of the day came later in the evening when the party elicited views for Madurai and Theni. A good number of DMK functionaries from Madurai were learnt to have expressed their reservation against sitting Marxist MP Su Venkatesan and insisted on retaining the seat. Meanwhile, the MDMK led by Vaiko leaked its desire to submit a wish list of six MP seats and secure two seats from alliance leader DMK. MDMK has identified Tiruchy, Erode, Virudhunagar, Cuddalore, Kancheepuram and Mayiladuthurai as its potential winnable seats and sought the same from the DMK.