Chennai, February 21 The ruling DMK announced the formation of a 7-member seat-sharing committee, led by party senior leader T R Baalu, on Saturday to hold talks with its allies, days after it sealed a poll pact with the DMDK.
This swift move to involve the DMDK dealt a blow to its rival AIADMK, which has been attempting to woo the Vijayakanth-founded party into the NDA to collectively challenge the DMK in the upcoming Assembly election.
A source in the DMK said the party was likely to begin seat-sharing negotiations with its allies from February 22.
In addition to accommodating the DMDK, the party is also likely to allocate more seats to the Congress for these elections.
Ruling out any possibility of a coalition government in Tamil Nadu, MDMK chief Vaiko, an ally of the DMK, said the Dravidian major would return to power with an absolute majority.
"I am fully confident that DMK president and Chief Minister M K Stalin will form the government again by winning the 2026 Assembly election," Vaiko said.
"The upcoming elections will not be a major test of strength. The DMK will win in most of the constituencies. I want to reiterate that there is no chance of a coalition government," Vaiko told reporters in the southern district of Tirunelveli on Saturday.
A senior DMK leader said, "Our leader has put the allies in poll mode. As promised, our president has formed the committee, and he will expedite the talks and likely conclude them by the end of this month or early next month, so that the parties can undertake a joint election campaign."
For its part, the DMK has launched a public outreach campaign to explain the achievements of the DMK government and to "expose the betrayal of the Centre and its puppet, the AIADMK," he said.
Interestingly, expelled AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam, who quit the NDA following differences, called on Stalin on the Assembly premises after the session concluded on February 20 and greeted him. He later expressed confidence that Stalin would return to power. This view, Panneerselvam had told reporters, reflected the sentiments of the people regarding the DMK government's good governance.
This remark did not go down well with the AIADMK, which criticised him, describing the comment as a "betrayal."
"He was elevated in the party ranks and even made deputy chief minister by Amma (late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa). Now he is prepared to be disloyal to the AIADMK by praising the DMK leader for his own political survival," a senior AIADMK leader told