Chennai, March 22 The ruling DMK has offered five seats to its ally, CPI (M), for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, the Left party's State Secretary P Shanmugam said on Sunday.
The seat-sharing talks between the DMK and CPI (M), which have been ongoing for the last 20 days, saw a new development with DMK President M K Stalin personally joining the negotiations.
"... this is the first time Chief Minister (M K Stalin) participated and requested us to accept the 5 seats offered by them," Shanmugam told reporters.
He noted that in the 2021 assembly elections, the Left parties -- CPI and CPI(M) -- contested in six seats each.
"The CPI(M) has been seeking a larger allocation. With more parties joining the front, the DMK stated that providing more seats is difficult."
The Chief Minister cited constraints with the expansion of the Secular Progressive Alliance.
Following the DMK's stance, the CPI(M)'s state committee met twice and decided not to insist on more than 6 seats.
"Since the current alliance has been strengthened with the arrival of new allies, we decided not to push for more than 6 seats. Our executive committee authorized us to secure at least 6 seats that we contested in the 2021 Assembly polls," he said.
Under these circumstances, CPI (M) general secretary M A Baby attended the state committee meeting on March 21, where it was decided to press for six seats.
According to Shanmugam, the CM himself reiterated the challenges of seat allocation in a large alliance and urged the CPI(M) to remain in the front while accepting his offer.
The CPI(M) leadership has conveyed that its executive committee will meet soon and take a final decision.
"Since the Chief Minister M K Stalin himself has made a request, we have informed that the Executive Committee will meet and decide on it," he said.
Asked whether the party would consider leaving the alliance if its demand is not met, he shot back, "Why are you asking on assumption? The Marxist Communist Party will not take any such decision."