Chennai

Congress sources revealed to DT Next that the party has a list of 40 plus constituencies to identify its 25 constituencies. Going by Information trickling out of Sathyamurthy Bhavan, the three sitting seats in Kanyakumari, Kadayanallur, Srivaikuntam, Madurai, Coimbatore, Theni, Trichy, Tirunelveli, Aranthangi, Hosur, Erode and Mylapore in Chennai are among the seats in the Congress wish list. 

The Dravidian party might have a relatively smooth seat identification process with the Left parties which were learnt to have discussed the constituencies even while finalizing the numbers with the DMK. Differences, if any, could be between the two left parties as both CPI and CPIM are interested in a few seats in Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, Madurai. Tamizhaga Valvurimai Katchi is eyeing either Panruti or Neyveli. IUML and MMK are vying for seats in Tirunelveli, Ramanathapuram, Coimbatore, Vellore and Theni districts. Ally VCK, which is keen on contesting in two general seats, was understood to have sought seats mostly in northern Tamil Nadu like Kattumannarkoil, Villupuram, Ariyalur and Chidambaram. 

KNMDK, which has yet to finalize seats with the DMK, has also targeted seats in Coimbatore, Erode, Tiruppur, Namakkal and Karur districts. Sources in DMK revealed that the DMK could make a few compromises in the rest of the state, but it has no plans to apportion seats to allies in the state capital. In the worst case scenario, the party could allot one seat to the Congress in Chennai, a DMK source disclosed. 

No deal yet in Pondy as Cong, DMK hold 2nd round talks 

The Congress and DMK on Monday held their second round of seat sharing talks for the April 6 Puducherry Assembly elections and a pact is likely to be reached soon after top leadership-level parleys. A day after the first round of discussions, leaders of the two parties again met at the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) office here. Emerging from the 45-minute-long deliberations, former chief minister V Narayanasamy told reporters that the DMK delegates informed them about the number of seats the party wanted out of the 30 constituencies in the Union Territory. Declining to make public the quantum demanded by the DMK, he said they would place all the details before the All India Congress Committee. Narayanasamy and PCC president AV Subramanian among others represented the Congress, while the DMK fielded its convenors SP Sivakumar and R Siva for the talks.

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