Congress hints at other options as DMK unrelenting on seat talk
CHENNAI: Seat sharing talks in the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance has hit a dead end as almost all allies are at loggerheads with the party. A sulking Congress, the largest ally of DMK, has already started planting ideas that they were not averse to considering other optionslike Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Neethi Maiam or even TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK).
A senior Congress leader, unwilling to be quoted, disclosed “DMK is very adamant. They are not going beyond the 18-seat offer. The harmony of the alliance has already been spoiled. We must explore options like MNM or some understanding with TTV’s AMMK.” Significantly, AICC in-charge of Tamil Nadu Dinesh Gundu Rao would be consulting Congress district presidents at Sathyamurthu Bhavan on Thursday on the face-off with the DMK and other possible alliance options.
CHENNAI: The DMK is facing pressure from Congress as even VCK was learnt to have abstained from the second round of talks on Wednesday owing to the DMK’s measly three seat offer, against their double digit demand.
While the allies blame the DMK for the standoff, DMK insiders said the Congress and VCK were being unrealistic “We gave them (Congress) 41 seats in 2016. Four new parties (Left, VCK and MDMK) have joined us since then. We suffered for giving Congress 41 in the last Assembly election. We gave them 10 of the 40 MP seats in 2019 because it was Congress’ election. This is our election. So, they should be realistic and grateful.”
A highly placed DMK source revealed that Stalin was confident that DMK could win on its own and a section of Congress leaders were misinforming Rahul Gandhil, leading to strain in the relationship.
DMK sources disclosed that Congress were demanding 35 seats, unmindful of the fact that Stalin was the first to project Rahul for PM and apportion 10 MP seats to Congress. “We cannot risk giving a lot to allies and suffer like in 2011 and 2016. If they are too demanding, we have to ditch them and go it alone. Stalin is confident that we can win on our own,” the DMK senior said, suggesting that the leadership should convey its maximum offer of 24 seats and seal the deal soon. Tamil Nadu Congress president KS Alagiri, who has been maintaining that the talks were cordial, kept the DMK guessing by publicly declaring in native Cuddalore that the ball was in DMK’s court.
VCK functionaries said that their party is clearly upset with the alliance talks with the DMK. “While our party is demanding at least 10 seats, the DMK is offering maximum of eight seats with four in DMK symbol. Our leader Thol Thirumavalavan is also not happy over the developments. So, we boycotted the talks today”, said a VCK functionary on request of anonymity. The functionary also said that VCK has a much larger cadre strength when compared to other alliance partners and even the cadre working in the ground are not happy with the DMK’s offer. However, Thirumavalavan is still optimistic as he finds DMK alliance as the only resort to fight the BJP-PMK combine.