Congress clinched a deal with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) to contest the scheduled 16 May assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. Congress will contest in 41 constituencies in the state, while DMK and its other alliance parties will contest the remaining seats. There are a total of 234 seats in the state assembly.
Congress’s senior leader Gulam Nabi Azad discussed the matter of seat-sharing when he visited DMK’s chief M Karunanidhi at the latter’s residence on Monday.
In the last assembly polls held in April, 2011, Congress had contested in 63 seats. However, the bargaining suffered this time as G K Moopanar, former union minister for shipping, had left the party to form Tamila Manila Congress (TMC).
Azad said, “I have seen that since the past few decades the AIADMK has never been able to get two consecutive terms. In Tamil Nadu, it is always one term for AIADMK and another term for the DMK. Now it is the turn of the DMK-led government and I am sure we will be able to form the government. We will work sincerely to ensure we are victorious.”
Karunanidhi’s son M K Stalin, daughter Kanimozhi and other DMK party leaders too were present at the meeting. Stalin said the seat-sharing committee would meet later in the evening to identify constituencies for Congress.
The results of the assembly elections will be announced on 19 May.
