The five-member team appointed by the Congress high command to hold talks with the DMK on seat-sharing for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, on Wednesday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and briefed her on the outcome of the first round of talks held on Sunday.
Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K V Thangkabalu, a member of the panel, told The Hindu later that the committee had given its report on the outcome of the first round of talks to Ms. Gandhi. “We have made our demands. It is for the DMK leadership to decide. Now, the ball is in their court.”
Union Health Minister and Congress general secretary in charge of Tamil Nadu affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad and other members of the panel — Union Ministers P Chidambaram and G.K. Vasan, Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan and K Jayakumar, MLA — were present during the meeting.
While Congress sources said the party was firm in its demand for a power-sharing arrangement, the DMK is hopeful of reaching an agreement. The negotiations have just started and in such an exercise, there are bound to be areas of convergence and divergence of views, according to DMK sources.
The talks may go on for a few more rounds too, sources said, when asked for a reaction to the Congress demands for share in power, the formulation of a common minimum programme and the constitution of a coordination committee.
The DMK president and Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has not yet revealed his mind on the demands of the Congress.
