Stalin reviews seat-sharing talks with allies

Stalin on Wednesday got in to a huddle with the five-member team led by Duraimurugan at Anna Arivalayam, discussing the demands of allies and the tentative allocation for them.

The principal opposition party, which has allotted seats to Congress (10), IUML (1) and KNMDK (1) which has yet to finalise numbers for the Left parties, MDMK and VCK, ostensibly, waiting for Vijayakanth’s DMDK to decide on joining its secular alliance. As it is, the DMK has offered four Lok Sabha seats plus a Rajya Sabha berth and some other considerations to the DMDK, which was learnt to be waiting for the inauspicious eighth and ninth days of the lunar cycle to get over and resume talks on Thursday. The DMK, sources said, has convinced itself to apportion four seats to DMDK from its tally after an already irked Congress ruled out the possibility of sacrificing two seats from the allotted 10 to accommodate a new ally.

Ironically, just when the DMK heaved a sigh of relief over convincing the DMDK to accept its offer, the AIADMK poured cold water in the dreams of the DMK by reviving talks with the actor-politicians’ party. The ruling AIADMK was persuaded by the BJP to reopen negotiation with the DMDK, thanks to intelligence reports which suggested bright prospects for the alliance in 25 seats in the event of the actor-politician joining them. “Instructions were given from New Delhi to the AIADMK bosses to somehow clinch the deal with the DMDK. The Chief minister has deputed a couple of his trusted ministers to woo the actor back to the fold,” a source privy to the development revealed. The AIADMK, going by sources, was willing to match the four-seat offer besides doubling the considerations promised by the principal opposition party.