DMK offers only 20; Cong unhappy, says it got 40 last time
With the Election Commission of India declaring the poll schedule for the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on Friday, the DMK and the Congress are finding it difficult to arrive at an amicable seat sharing agreement.
A national leader of the Congress told The Pioneer that the DMK is proving to be a tough taskmaster when it is time for seat allocation. “The maximum they had offered as till Saturday 2 pm is just 20 seats. Please remember that the Congress was allocated 40 seats during the 2016 Assembly election and we won eight seats,” said the senior leader who did not want to be identified.
Last week the team of Congress leaders deputed by party chief Sonia Gandhi called on the DMK headquarters and held a round of meeting with the second rung leaders of the Dravidian major.
“It was not a pleasant experience,” said another leader, a close aide to party scion Rahul Gandhi.
The leader said the grand old party of India would not be happy with anything less than 40. “The DMK is winning election by making use of the goodwill enjoyed by the Congress in Tamil Nadu. There is a strong anti-DMK feeling in the State, but the Congress will survive because it has showed the world that the party does not require power to become strong,” said the leader who was accompanying Rahul Gandhi to Thoothukudi on Saturday.
What comes out of the Congress leaders’ comments is the fact that there is a trust deficit between the party and the DMK. This was visible in the downfall of the Congress-led Narayanasamy Government in Puducherry which lost vote of trust because of the resignation of the lone DMK member.
The Congress negotiators were led by former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandi and Karnataka leader Dinesh Gundu Rao. The absence this time of Ghulam Nabi Azad has surprised TNCC leaders. “Azad was the leader who knows the functioning of the DMK inside out. But he was conspicuous by his absence this time,” said the leader.
While the Congress-DMK talks are in a deadlock, the AIADMK scored a major point on Friday by enacting a legislation that granted 10.5 per cent reservation for the 2 crore strong Vanniyar community in the Government service. This has been a long standing demand of Dr Ramadoss, founder of the PMK. This brought in some cheer to the AIADMK as it has pacified three of its major allies, the BJP, the PMK and the Puthiya Tamilakam.
The DMK, which has been on an aggressive mood till early last week, has suddenly mellowed down and maintaining a silence. Meanwhile TTV Dhinakaran, general secretary of the AMMK and nephew of VK Sasikala, Jayalalithaa’s former aide, declared that he would be the Chief Ministerial candidate of the front to be led by his party. This means that there are four CM candidates in Tamil Nadu as on Saturday, the other three being incumbent Edappadi Palaniswamy, MK Stalin (DMK) and film actor Kamal Haasan (MNM). Tamil Nadu goes to the poll on April 6 to elect 234-member Assembly.
