Opposition parties to finalise poll deals today

The DMK was understood to have come forward to allot two seats to the Marxists, who insist that they should be allotted at least three Lok Sabha seats or two LS seats plus a Rajya Sabha berth later in the year.  However, alliance leader DMK was not willing to concede more than two seats to them.

Followed by Marxists, the DMK has planned to invite CPI, Vaiko’s MDMK and VCK for seat sharing talks the same day. Both the MDMK and CPI, as on Sunday, have sought two seats, one less than the DMK’s offer.

The DMK, sources said, has planned to convince the allies by promising them better representation in the local body polls.

Meanwhile, scheduled talks between the DMK and the VCK did not materialise on Sunday after the junior partner abstained from visiting the Anna Arivalayam, reportedly upset over the big brother unwilling to go beyond its initial offer of one seat to the Dalit party.

Sources in the DMK confirmed that Thirumavalavan was unhappy with as much the offer as disparaging remarks of a member of the DMK seat sharing team.

An upset Thirumavalavan, who was told by the DMK negotiators to either take one seat or leave, has planned to meet DMK president Stalin to personally request him to allot the additional seat for his general secretary Ravikumar, who’s candidature has even been recommended by DMK Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi from within.

Meanwhile, a few senior district secretaries have appealed to Stalin to ditch the VCK and save one seat, but Stalin was not willing to give up on his Dalit ally.

The DMK president is hopeful that the differences would be ironed out and the deal clinched on Monday.