Chennai, March 3 Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, accompanied by TNCC chief K Selvaperunthagai, met Chief Minister M K Stalin at his office here on Tuesday amidst a stalemate between the two parties over seat-sharing arrangements.
During the one-hour meeting with Stalin, who is the president of the DMK, the Congress leaders discussed various issues affecting both parties, and a final decision would be taken soon, a source in the Congress said.
The source said that both parties wanted the alliance to continue, but there had been some disagreement over the number of seats to be allocated to the ruling party. Initially, the DMK had offered one Rajya Sabha seat to the Congress, and the negotiations hinged on the number of seats to be allocated to the party, which had demanded 39 seats.
It is likely that they will settle for 28 seats and two Rajya Sabha seats, the source added.
"The DMK wants the alliance to continue. Talks are ongoing, and our leader will arrive at a good decision," DMK spokesperson T K S Elangovan told reporters in Vellore.
"Our leader wants to resolve the issue amicably. We will know in the evening," he said.
Earlier, Selvaperunthagai met Chidambaram, and after a discussion, both went to the CM's residence.
The Congress seat-sharing committee, led by Tamil Nadu in-charge Girish Chodankar, held the initial talks and submitted a "wish list" to the DMK committee headed by its treasurer T R Baalu last week.
After the initial discussion, Chodankar said that the DMK's offer of 25 seats was "not acceptable" and that the party expected more.
However, in an interesting turn of events, the party high command has asked the senior leader P Chidambaram to resume the talks directly with the DMK leadership and bring about an amicable solution.
Chodankar was to have led the five-member Congress delegation for the parleys today.
