The DMK on Monday allotted 41 seats to ally Congress for the forthcoming Assembly elections after tough negotiations which lasted for more than a week.
The DMK on Monday allotted 41 seats to ally Congress for the forthcoming Assembly elections after tough negotiations which lasted for more than a week.
AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, who signed the deal with DMK chief M. Karunanidhi at the latter’s Gopalapuram residence, said the alliance headed by AICC president Sonia Gandhi at the national level and Karunanidhi at the state level would be successful, indicating that an arrangement at the national level for the next general elections is part of the deal.
Mr Azad, who spoke to reporters in the presence of DMK treasurer M.K. Stalin, said, “Now, this is the turn of the DMK-led government and I am sure we will be able to form the government under Karunanidhi,” leaving the question of a coalition government open.
Expressing optimism, he said the DMK-led government had come to power after the AIADMK-led government in alternate elections in Tamil Nadu.
The Congress’ veiled threat to the DMK that it can ignore the party’s nearly 5 per cent vote share only at its peril during the seat-sharing negotiations seemed to have worked in the national party’s favour.
Eyebrows were raised in political circles in Tamil Nadu when the DMK announced it was allotting 41 seats to the Congress. But Congress leaders say the DMK first began the talks offering just 15 seats to the party. “We began the talks with 83 seats while the DMK was ready to give only 15 seats. When we reduced the number to 63, they were stuck at 25 and the talks broke down. After intense negotiations and hard bargaining, the DMK increased the number to 35, but we were very adamant on getting more than 40 seats,” a senior Congress leader said. Another Congress leader said DMK was told that the Congress party cannot be judged only on the basis of its performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, where almost all the party’s candidates forfeited their deposits. “It looked like the DMK was approaching us based on our 2014 performance. We told them that one election cannot be the yardstick for assessing a party’s strength. So we bargained for our party and got the number of seats we wanted,” the leader said.
