Stalin was understood to have assured his district chiefs that he was not favourably disposed to snapping ties with any of the constituents, let alone the Congress in Tamil Nadu.

Stalin, DMK sources privy to the meeting revealed, told the party functionaries that the existing alliance would continue successfully. The assurance has come as a relief to the workers who were influenced by the one-liners of their party leaders, especially general secretary Duraimurugan, who has been hinting at the inclusion of PMK which has been playing hide and seek with its ally AIADMK for a while now. Utterances of Duraimurugan, and that too in the backdrop of Rahul Gandhi not even mentioning the DMK in his ongoing tour, has only fuelled speculation about the national party exiting the DMK-led alliance.

However, DMK insiders conceded that their leadership was only keen on reducing the seat tally of the Congress this time.

“We cannot generously allot over 60 or 40 seats like we did in 2011 and 2016. It could be advantageous to the ruling alliance. We want to restrict them to around 20 seats.

They are trying to play hard ball by bringing Rahul to state for three days. We are returning the favour,” a DMK district secretary said.

“Both parties will settle for a compromise. Congress will expect us to compromise in Puducherry to agree for fewer seats in Tamil Nadu. It is just the number game which is fuelling the speculation,” a DMK leader who did not wish to be quoted said.

“Where will they go if they quit our alliance? Can they align with the AIADMK and seek votes? In the worst case scenario, they can join Kamal and tour the state like cinema shooting. It will not fetch votes for Congress. State leaders of Congress know the reality.

Things will fall in place after polls are announced,” he added.