Cong forms panel to hold alliance parleys with DMK for TN Assembly polls

Even as speculation persists about the Congress discreetly engaging the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), the AICC leadership has constituted a panel to hold alliance talks with the ruling DMK, its INDIA Bloc partner, for the 2026 assembly election.

AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge has constituted the committee, headed by the party in charge for Tamil Nadu, Girish Chodankar, to hold seat-sharing talks with the DMK, heading the Secular Progressive Alliance in the state. Other members of the panel are TNCC president K Selvaperunthagai, AICC secretaries Suraj MN Hegde, Nivedith Alva, and CLP leader S Rajesh Kumar.

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This comes close on the heels of the Congress’ humiliating defeat in the Bihar election. The party’s rout in Bihar had forced it to give up any thought of entertaining the TVK for a potential electoral tie-up.

Congress veteran and former Union Minister P Chidambaram, welcoming the constitution of the committee, had said it had put an end to speculative media reports of the party’s alliance position.

Taking to ‘X’, he wrote, “The formation of the committee to engage with the DMK ahead of the polls reaffirmed the unity of the INDIA Bloc and put an end to recurring speculative reports about the Congress’ alliance position in Tamil Nadu.”