TNCC team to seek intervention of Sonia to get RS seat from DMK

Suggestions to this effect, mostly mooted by MP aspirants, have poured in from several quarters requesting senior Congress leaders to lead a delegation to meet the party’s national chief.

The moves have been made in the backdrop of DMK announcing its list of Rajya Sabha nominees belying Congress hopes that the Dravidian ally would give a favourable consideration to the request they had vainly made for former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who was eventually nominated to the RS from Rajasthan last year.

A Congress senior, who did not wish to be named, said the DMK might reconsider if the request came from the Congress top brass to the DMK leadership directly.

However, not all in Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) were favourably disposed to the idea of persuading Sonia to attempt to prevail over ally DMK for RS nomination. Skeptics were concerned that the DMK would not go back on its announcement and apportion a seat to the Congress party. Another deterrent to convincing Sonia, who was understood to have expressed her displeasure at the DMK not allotting them a RS seat this time, was the choice of candidate. “Who are we asking the seat for? So far, no formal request has been made by the Congress high command. Our high command was only upset that DMK did not consult them, after turning down our request last time. Only a few aspiring leaders here are making noise. Nothing concrete has happened between both party leaders,” said a party MP requesting anonymity.

“To expect a seat after the recent friction between both the parties, especially DMK’s boycott of AICC organised all-party meeting on CAA, was unrealistic. The only intervention we could expect from AICC was reviving ties between the two parties,” a TNCC senior opined, adding that the ensuing visit of Rahul Gandhi to the state could iron out the difference between the two parties and restore the bonhomie even if the Sonia meet does not materialise.