Kanimozhi Says Congress Not Demanding More Seats

Chennai: DMK deputy general secretary Kanimozhi Karunanidhi said that talks were on with the Congress on the continuation of the electoral alliance but denied that there was any dispute over the number of seats since seat sharing would be discussed only by the committee set up for the purpose, adding an intriguing twist to the standoff over the finalization of the tie-up

Speaking to the media at the Anna Arivalayam on Wednesday after a meeting of the DMK’s manifesto committee that sought the opinions of several groups of people, Kanimozhi said Chief Minister M K Stalin would make an announcement if any new party joined the DMK lead alliance and that talks were going on with the Congress.

But the Congress party’s in-charge of Tamil Nadu Girish Chodankar, who had been camping in Chennai to hold talks on seat sharing for the four days and even had even spoken to Kanimozhi on speeding up the process of the DMK appointing a committee to negotiate with the Congress team, had not been able to hold any discussions as the DMK had not formed its committee.

However, neither the DMK nor the Congress had given any indication of snapping the ties. On the contrary, DMK president and Chief Minister M K Stalin expressed solidarity with the Congress on Wednesday by putting out a message on social media condemning the suspension of 8 MPs from the Lok Sabha referring to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as his brother.

Even TNCC president K Selvaperunthagai issued a statement in support of the DMK government on the Bill that it had brought in the Assembly to make the Chief Minister the Chancellor of State universities and the subsequent developments on the issue, suggesting that the Congress and DMK were allies.

However, there had been no resolution of the dispute over seat-sharing for the Assembly elections that came to the fore recently with several Congress leaders openly demanding a share in power and also more seats. Even after the DMK dispatched Kanimozhi to meet Rahul Gandhi in Delhi, there had been resolution to the seat-sharing tangle.