Ahead of the formalising of the seat-sharing agreement with the DMK, Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal and convener of the party’s national alliance committee (NAC) Mukul Wasnik held a meeting with Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) chief K. Selvaperunthagai and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader in Tamil Nadu, S. Rajesh Kumar, in Delhi on Monday.
K. Selvaperunthagai
A source said that the discussion was regarding the ‘rotation’ of some of the Parliamentary seats that are being held by the Congress. Another source said that the DMK was offering only 9 seats whereas the Congress had sought 12.
However, the source said that the proposed ‘rotation’ of seats, which the Congress was resisting, included seats such as Tiruvallur, Virudhunagar, Krishnagiri and possibly a few more. There is, however, no official word on this.
In 2019, the Congress, in an alliance with the DMK, won 8 out of the 39 Lok Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu. In the 2021 Assembly election, the Congress settled for 25 Assembly seats after demanding the same number of seats it had contested in 2016 (41), in the hope that the DMK would accede to its demand in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. However, again, the Congress finds itself grappling with the DMK for Lok Sabha seats.
“Today’s meeting is just to take feedback on the seats,” said a senior leader, indicating that a final decision would be taken by the end of this week.
Senior leaders, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi, are expected to meet either on February 29 or March 1.
