Former Union Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram has expressed dissatisfaction over the number of seats and choice of constituencies allocated by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to his party for the Assembly elections.
Addressing party cadres after declaring open the new party office at Pudukottai on Sunday, Mr. Chidambaram said the DMK had allotted only 41 seats and some of them were not to the liking of the Congress. “It does not delight [us] much, both in terms of number of seats and the selection of constituency,” he said. However, he said the party cadre would not shy away from campaigning and there was a responsibility to work in unison (with the DMK).
Meanwhile, AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi’s opposition to the “quota system”, which leads to “groupism” in the party, might determine how the seats are going to be allocated. Of the 41 seats the party would be contesting, at least half of the seats would be given to district presidents, say the sources.
“This will be unprecedented in the TNCC history. Usually, every TNCC leader gets a quota for his supporters to contest. After learning that the AIADMK and DMK usually field candidates who are closer to the people, Rahul Gandhi has clearly said that the district presidents should be given preference,” says a senior leader.
As the candidates’ list is likely to be released on Tuesday, many of the TNCC leaders are camping in New Delhi to get seats for their supporters.
“As long as quota system exists, the party will not flourish, since only the faction leader gets importance and not the party,” says a TNCC leader.
