Rao, Stalin begin talks on 2021 poll deal

Chennai

Accompanied by state Congress president KS Alagiri and Congress legislature party leader KR Ramasamy, Rao invited Stalin for the “plough rally” to be attended by his party leader Rahul Gandhi in the state soon.

The DMK has called for a meeting of its district secretaries on Thursday to discuss ongoing farmers agitation in Delhi. An announcement made by the party general secretary Duraimurugan on Wednesday said the district secretaries meet would be held via video call. The meeting happens in the backdrop of Congress leaders calling on Stalin, ostensibly, to discuss alliance issues ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls.

The AICC in-charge was also learnt to have discussed the reported friction between the two party leaders in neighbouring Puducherry and preliminary alliance talks for the Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu in 2021.

Emerging out of the 20-minute long meeting, Rao said, “I invited him to participate in the campaign (plough rally) when Rahul Gandhi comes to Tamil Nadu. We had a good discussion on the issue. DMK leadership also appreciated what we are planning to do. They will be participating when Rahul comes.

Asked if they discussed seat sharing or alliance related issues, Rao said, “All kinds of misinterpretation has come out. Our agenda was different. It (seat sharing) was not on the agenda.” Adding that he would be discussing Rahul’s Tamil Nadu visit with senior state Congress leaders at Sathyamurthy Bhavan on Thursday, the AICC in-charge of TNCC clarified that they would take a decision on Rahul’s visit on Thursday.

Congress sources revealed that the two leaders had discussed the idea of constituting a committee in both parties ahead of the formal seat sharing talks to be held later.

Rao was also understood to have urged Stalin to prevail over his party functionaries in Puducherry to iron out the differences between the two parties in the union territory.

To a specific query on whether seat numbers were discussed in Tuesday’s video call between Rahul and TNCC seniors, Rao said that it was not on the agenda and they had only deliberated over how to go about the campaign and ground reality in Tamil Nadu.