MDMK gets 6 seats from DMK; Cong may settle for 25 seats, 1 RS ticket
CPM alone continues to bargain with the DMK for more seats
The DMK on Saturday sealed the deal with Vaiko’s MDMK for the April 6 election. DMK has allotted six seats to MDMK, which would contest on the former’s Rising Sun symbol. An agreement to that effect was signed by DMK president MK Stalin and MDMK leader Vaiko at Anna Arivalayam early on Saturday evening. In a late night development, the DMK nearly clinched the seat sharing deal with ally Congress. Accompanied by AICC in charge of TNCC Dinesh Gundu Rao, State Congress chief K S Alagiri and CLP leader K R Ramasamy visited Stalin’s residence at 11:30 pm and finalised the numbers.
Dinesh Rao after the meeting, said, “Alagiri, Ramsamy and I met DMK president Stalin and finalised the deal. Tomorrow at 10 am, we will be signing the agreement.” Sources revealed that the DMK has offered 25 Assembly seats plus a Rajya Sabha nomination to the national party. The deal could change to an extra two seats without RS nomination if the national party so wishes, a DMK source disclosed. MDMK was the latest ally on Saturday to officially sign the deal with DMK, which has so far finalised poll pacts with CPI (6), VCK (6), IUML (3) and MMK (2) so far. The MMK is also understood to have agreed to contest one seat in the DMK symbol so that the Dravidian major would have 180 of the 234 seats of its own in the poll fray. Congress and CPM are the remaining allies with whom the DMK has yet to finalise the deal. The CPIM alone was lobbying hard for at least a seat or two more than DMK’s six seat offer.
Is Council returning to TN? The DMK is also making MLC (Member of Legislative Council) promises to allies to restrict them to fewer seats this time. VCK leader Thirumavalavan spilled the beans when he admitted that the DMK has promised MLC and general allocation in urban local body polls to them during the talks. Chance of reaching an agreement, if not done before tonight, would be unlikely till Monday given that the DMK top brass would descend on Tiruchy to attend the rally. Moreover, the DMK and CPM on Saturday failed to reach any settlement in the second round of seat sharing talks.