TN Assembly poll seat sharing: DMK keeps ambivalent Cong on tenterhooks

Nearly a week has passed since the ruling DMK constituted a panel to hold seat-sharing parleys with its allies and also commenced the process with a few of them, but not with the Congress, indicating that the Dravidian major is keeping the national party on tenterhooks.

While minor allies like the Indian Union Muslim League and the Left parties have been given preference and invited for talks, intriguingly, the ambivalent Congress has been kept waiting for its date. The Congress’s reported persistence on 41 assembly constituencies and two Rajya Sabha seats, besides a share in power post-election, has apparently forced the Dravidian major to extend a long rope.

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Further, the Congress’s simultaneous engagement with actor Vijay of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), exploring an alliance with the fledgling party to cash in on the film star’s charisma and huge fan following, has not gone down well with the DMK leadership. This is also the reason why the DMK is yet to invite the Congress for seat-sharing talks, allowing the national party to make its stand clear.

The Congress, which won 18 out of the 25 seats it contested in the 2021 assembly polls in the DMK-led alliance, is now pressing hard for 41 seats so that it can play a crucial role in the post-election scenario. With the DMDK of late actor Vijayakanth, headed by his wife Premalatha, entering the DMK-led combine, the DMK leadership finds it difficult to accommodate the Congress’s demand and is reportedly willing to part with 26 seats and a Rajya Sabha berth.

The dilemma before the Congress, according to analysts, is whether to stick with the DMK alliance, with which it had tasted victory in successive elections, and remain content at playing second fiddle to the Dravidian major or take a risk by teaming up with the TVK to strengthen and revitalise the party organisation, keeping uppermost the long-term interests of the party. Even as the DMK appears to be in no hurry to seal the seat-sharing pact, the Congress national leadership remains unperturbed, allowing things to take their own course.

With Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slated to visit Kanchipuram in the first week of March for a party event in Kancheepuram district, it is expected that the party could fall in line with the DMK by then. A meeting between Gandhi and DMK president Chief Minister MK Stalin could settle the issue, say sources in both parties.