DMK-Congress Alliance’s Troubles Continue: Chief Minister’s Key Advice

Tamil Nadu: Chief Minister Stalin will hold an emergency meeting today (March 22), as the Congress and the DMK have confirmed their alliance for the Puducherry Assembly elections, yet a deadlock regarding seat-sharing persists.

Just as the DMK has assumed leadership of the alliance in Tamil Nadu, the party’s state leadership seeks to lead the alliance in Puducherry as well.

However, the Puducherry Congress remains firm on its demand that while the DMK may lead the alliance in Tamil Nadu, the Congress should take the lead in Puducherry.

In the previous election, out of a total of 30 Assembly seats, the Congress contested 15 seats, the DMK contested 13, and the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Nadu (LTNT) each contested one seat under the alliance banner.

In that election, the Congress won 2 seats, while the DMK won 6. The DMK currently serves as the Opposition in the Assembly. Given this context, it is reported that the Congress party intends to contest 21 seats in the upcoming Assembly elections, leaving the remaining seats for the DMK.

Despite negotiations on seat-sharing being held under the leadership of the top leaders of these parties, no decision has been reached thus far.

The Congress is willing to allocate 9 seats within the alliance, whereas the DMK is demanding 15 seats. A continuous tug-of-war is unfolding between the two sides, as the DMK is pressing for additional seats to ensure that seats can also be allocated to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Nadu and the Communist Party of India—both of which are constituents of the DMK-led alliance.

Against this backdrop, in an effort to finalize the alliance, senior DMK election in-charge (MP) Jagathrakshakan, DMK State Convener Siva, and other party functionaries had been waiting at a star hotel since yesterday morning for the arrival of the Congress delegation. Girish Chodankar, the Congress party’s national in-charge who is currently visiting Puducherry, held separate consultations with Congress party functionaries.

Subsequently, it was announced that functionaries from both the DMK and Congress would hold talks later that same night. However, despite the DMK waiting until 10 PM—that is, for 12 hours—no representative from the Congress arrived there. In light of this situation, DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin will hold an emergency meeting today in Puducherry regarding the DMK-Congress alliance.