Chennai, Mar 7 (UNI) After alleging disrespect by the main
Opposition DMK, its key ally, the Congress, on Sunday agreed
to contest in 25 Assembly seats, besides the Kanniykumari Lok
Sabha seat, where bypoll would be held along with the April
six single phase polling in Tamil Nadu.
After hard bargaining and last minute parleys that stretched on
till late on Saturday night, the DMK and the Congress signed
the seat-sharing agreement today, ending days of strong posturing
by the national party and its veiled threat of exiting the alliance
alleging 'disrespect'.
As per the agreement, the Congress was allotted 25 Assembly seats
and the Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha seat, which fell vacant after the
death of Congress MP H.Vasanthakumar due to corona.
The Congress was left with no other option but to settle for the
lesser number of seats after a stubborn DMK refused to concede
its demand for 'respectable' seats.
The Congress, which was allotted 41 seas by the DMK in the 2016
Assembly polls, managed to win only eight seats, that had virtually
spoiled the DMK's dream of returning to power, despite the Dravidian
party emerging as the strongest Opposition ever winning 89 seats in
the 234-member Assembly.
As the DMK was in no mood to concede the Congress' demand for
30 seats, many in the Congress also suggested exiting the DMK-led
alliance alleging and 'disrespect', while some others favoured aligning
with actor-politician Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam as a last
resort.
Pushed to the wall owing to the lack of strong alternatives, the
Congress finally settled for 25 seats.
Last evening, the DMK signed the seat sharing pact with MDMK led
by Vaiko allotting six seats to it, same as those allotted to its other
allies the VCK and the CPI, that too after hard bargaining.
The talks with other ally, the CPI(M), remained inconclusive and
the latter was holding talks with its office-bearers on the issue.
The DMK had already allotted three and two seats to its minor alies
the IUML and MMK respectively.
UNI GV 1255