Chennai, March 4 The DMK and Congress, key allies, finalized their seat-sharing agreement for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections on Wednesday, effectively putting to rest speculation that questioned the continuation of their alliance due to demands for power-sharing from some within the national party.
After several rounds of negotiations, the DMK allocated 28 Assembly seats to the Congress for the upcoming Assembly elections and one Rajya Sabha seat for the March 16 biennial election. This reaffirmation of the alliance also came at a time when there were intense speculations that the Congress was considering an alliance with actor Vijay's TVK, even though the latter had been reaching out to the national party.
DMK President and Chief Minister M K Stalin and TNCC President K Selvaperunthagai formally finalized the seat-sharing agreement at the DMK headquarters, Anna Arivalayam.
Senior leaders, including AICC in-charge for Tamil Nadu Girish Chodankar, DMK leaders TR Baalu and Kanimozhi, among others, were present.
Selvaperunthagai expressed satisfaction and happiness over the seat-sharing agreement.
While the alliance had been under strain due to demands for more seats, veteran Congress leader and former Union Minister P Chidambaram along with Selvaperunthagai held negotiations with the DMK leadership at Anna Arivalayam on Tuesday.
In a brief interaction with reporters, Selvaperunthagai said, "Today, Congress and the DMK finalized the seat-sharing agreement. We have been allocated 28 Assembly constituencies and 1 Rajya Sabha seat."
When asked if there had been a delay in signing the agreement, he replied in the negative.
"The AICC and the DMK have made the right decision at the right time. Based on their guidance, we have signed the agreement. We are very happy and satisfied," he said.
Selvaperunthagai and Chodankar avoided questions on power-sharing.
While the leaders of the two parties had shown cordiality in recent days, the Congress party's reported insistence on a higher allocation of seats and the demand for power-sharing from a section of senior functionaries, including its Virudhunagar MP Manickam Tagore, did not go down well with the DMK, which made it clear that accommodating allies in the cabinet was not possible.
The power-sharing debate witnessed some heated exchanges between some Congress and DMK leaders, even as the Dravidian party stood firm against sharing power.
To a query, the TNCC chief said, the party high command will announce the Rajya Sabha candidate very soon.
On seat-sharing talks in Puducherry, Chodankar said, preliminary talks had already begun. "We are just waiting for the official announcement," he said.
The DMK leads the 21-party Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) in Tamil Nadu, and the constituents include Congress, Left parties, DMDK, and MDMK.
Elections to the 234 Assembly constituencies are likely to be held in April.