Chennai: The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the ruling party in Tamil Nadu, is set to initiate its preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on January 28. The party will engage in seat-sharing negotiations with its longstanding ally, the Congress. The Congress is expected to be represented by a formidable team dispatched by the High Command, including former Chief Ministers Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel, along with Mukul Wasnik, Ajoy Kumar, Tamil Nadu Congress chief K S Alagiri, and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader K Selva Perunthagai.
Sources suggest that the meeting between the Congress team and the DMK panel, formed last week, will mark the beginning of negotiations. The DMK panel comprises leaders such as Parliamentary Party leader T R Baalu, former Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy, ministers K N Nehru, I Periyasamy, M R K Panneerselvam, and MPs A Raja and Tiruchi Siva. A senior TNCC leader mentioned, “The meeting will set the tone for the negotiations, and I’m sure there’ll be more such meetings before we decide on the number of seats for the Congress.”
The Congress leader added, “We settled for 25 seats in the Assembly elections in 2021 as the DMK said it was state elections and they should be allowed to contest in a majority of the seats. Since this is a national election, we just hope that the DMK allots 10 seats like in 2019 though change of a few constituencies is inevitable.”
Following discussions with the Congress, the DMK plans to invite other parties, including CPI(M), CPI, VCK, and MDMK, for negotiations on seat-sharing. The aim is to complete the task promptly and kick-start the campaign early. A DMK leader emphasized, “We don’t have much time, and that’s why the committees were announced last week, and the manifesto panel has already met once. We hope to finish the negotiations soon.”
The alliance between the Congress and DMK dates back to 2004, with the exception of a brief hiatus between March 2013 and February 2016. Together, they have contested and won several elections, with their alliance emerging victorious in 2004, 2006, 2009, 2019, and 2021, while facing defeats in 2011 and 2016.
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