DMK-Cong seat sharing talks turn sour

An otherwise ‘cordial’ seat-sharing talks between the DMK and Congress turned sour in Karur on Monday as Congress MP from the district S Jothimani stormed out of the talks after being ‘disrespected’ by local leaders of the Dravidian major. However, Minister V Senthilbalaji refused the charges and said that no one had disrespected the MP.

A video released on Monday afternoon exposed the chaos in the electoral negotiations in Karur, native of Electricity Minister cum district in charge Senthilbalaji. An angry Jothimani was seen reprimanding her DMK counterparts in the video, even as the top leaders of DMK and Congress have been maintaining that the seat negotiations for the February 19 urban local body polls were progressing smoothly during the last couple of days.

It is said that an altercation erupted between DMK functionaries and Jothimani as the Congress was not satisfied with the number of seats allotted to them. While Jothimani was continuing with argument, the DMK and other alliance party functionaries attempted to pacify her. Since Jothimani went on with her argument, Aravakurichi DMK union secretary MS Manian intervened and asked Jothimani not to speak unnecessarily and asked her to move away from the hall if she continues with her arguments. On hearing it the irate MP left the hall at once claiming that she was asked to “get out” of the hall.

“I did not come here for a feast at your home. Who are you to ask me to get out? How can you speak disrespectfully? What if I do the same?” Jothimani was heard yelling in the video, which has exposed the friction in the alliance at district level. Though the initial talks held at the top level were not so forthcoming, it has not been an irritant between the allies, who have left it to their district heads to iron out the differences and arrive at a settlement.

Later, Minister Senthil Balaji who spoke to reporters said, “We have passed on the information to our party high command who had spoken to the state Congress leadership and the issue would be solved smoothly.”

The DMK has already advised its district secretaries to settle the talks with allies and send the list of DMK candidates to the high command by Monday evening. ‘Till Monday evening, agreement was reached between DMK and Congress only in 100-ward Madurai Corporation, where the Dravidian major has allotted nine seats to the Congress.