CHENNAI: The DMK has offered 25 Assembly seats, same as 2021 polls, a Rajya Sabha seat, and the chief minister’s post in Puducherry as part of the alliance agreement, said sources.
The proposal was conveyed by DMK deputy general secretary and leader of the party's parliamentary party wing, K Kanimozhi, who met Sonia and Rahul Gandhi at the latter’s residence in Delhi on Wednesday.
Kanimozhi is said to have informed the Congress leadership that if the proposal is accepted, the DMK's seat-sharing committee would formally commence talks with the Congress.
Earlier, AICC in-charge for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Girish Chodankar had said that the Congress had been waiting for the DMK's response for the past two months, as alliance talks had not moved forward.
The Kanimozhi–Gandhis meeting comes against the backdrop of a war of words between leaders of the DMK and the Congress, which had triggered tensions within the alliance. Over the past two months, relations between the two parties have been strained, with several Congress leaders pressing for a coalition government in the event of an alliance victory — a demand that DMK leaders have consistently rejected.
The rift widened recently after Congress MP B Manickam Tagore publicly suggested that the party should contest the Madurai North Assembly constituency, which is currently held by the DMK. This drew a sharp response from DMK MLA K Thalapathy, who mocked the Congress for its poor organisational strength.
Following the public exchanges, the DMK high command issued a gag order to its functionaries, urging restraint when commenting on alliance matters. Subsequently, Chodankar reiterated the need to initiate alliance talks, after which the DMK conveyed its position to the Congress leadership through Kanimozhi.