5-member Congress team meets CM Stalin, affirms tie-up

CHENNAI: The five-member AICC delegation of the Congress met Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin in Chennai to commence seat-sharing talks.

The meeting at Anna Arivalayam focused on preparations for the upcoming Assembly elections, campaign strategy and coordination within the alliance.

With the new committee formation for negotiations, the party is expecting to seek a higher share of seats—possibly 35 to 40 seats—from the alliance leader DMK, according to party insiders. Final seat allocation will be decided through talks with a panel of senior DMK ministers. For now, Congress leaders said Wednesday’s meeting has formally reaffirmed the alliance.

Addressing the media after meeting CM Stalin, Selvaperunthagai said the developments rebuke speculation that the Congress is reconsidering its alliance with the DMK. “The INDIA bloc is strong. Our meeting with the DMK chief has proved that,” he said. Selvaperunthagai added that Stalin had expressed satisfaction with the discussions. “Ours is a winning alliance. Wait and see,” he said.

The five-member team comprising AICC Tamil Nadu in-charge Girish Chodankar, TNCC chief Selvaperunthagai, Congress Legislature Party leader Rajesh Kumar and AICC secretaries Suraj MN Hegde and Nivedith Alva held discussions with DMK chief MK Stalin, the leader of the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA). The panel’s first meeting informally kick-started the process to discuss seat-sharing.

DMK principal secretary KN Nehru, organising secretary RS Bharathi and former MP TKS Elangovan were also present during the meeting.

In the 2021 Assembly elections, Congress contested 25 seats in the DMK-led alliance and won 18.