Congress-DMK deadlock over seat-sharing continues; KS Alagiri refutes talking to 3rd front

Congress and DMK leaders are set to meet on Friday yet again as the deadlock continues in the seat-sharing talks for the upcoming Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu. Leaders from both parties met on Thursday to discuss the same but failed to zero down on a number following which a meeting is scheduled to be held on Friday. As per reports, DMK expected to allot 20-25 seats to its ally as opposed to 40 seats from which the Congress contested in the previous elections in 2016. 

READ | DMK Wins TN Seat-sharing Bargain With IUML & MMK; CPI-M & VCK Rebuffed On Seeking Too Many

Reports on Thursday also suggested a meeting between Congress and Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), triggering speculations of the DMK ally possibly joining the third front in the making ahead of polls in Tamil Nadu. However, TNCC chief KS Alagiri dismissed the reports and maintained that it was for DMK to decide on seat-sharing between the two allies and said that the ball was in their court. The speculated Third Front is most likely to be led by Kamal Haasan along with other allies opposing the Dravidian parties and their allies. 

READ | AIADMK To Attempt Alliance Negotiations With DMDK Again As Vijaykanth Threatens To Go Solo

Replying to a question, KS Alagiri denied the Congress had made a 'climb-down' on the number of seats it sought from the DMK. Some issues needed to be resolved only through dialogue and there was no room for a bargain among allies, he said. On party leader Rahul Gandhi not speaking about the DMK alliance during his recent campaign in Tamil Nadu, he said the assembly election was all about propaganda against the governments at the state and Centre, led by allies the AIADMK and the BJP respectively.

DMK allocates 6 seats to VCK

Earlier on Thursday, DMK allocated six seats to its ally Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and three seats to the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). Moreover, as MK Stalin eyes a maiden term as the Tamil Nadu CM, the DMK has allocated two seats to the Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (MMK). DMK-Congress will have to finalize on a formula soon as the last date to file the nominations is approaching which is on March 19.

READ | Amit Shah Takes Dig At DMK-Congress' Nepotism; Terms Gandhis & Karunanidhis '3G & 4G'

Tamil Nadu polls 

Setting 200+ seat-target for the upcoming 2021 polls, DMK Chief M K Stalin has launched the "WeRejectADMK" campaign calling it "lack of governance" by the Palaniswami government and touching sensitive issues such as the NEET-related suicides, holding gram sabhas across the state. Holding gram Sabhas across Tamil Nadu, Stalin, his son Udhayanidhi and sister Kanimozhi have met people from all 234 constituencies to know the 10 years of the misrule of the ADMK Government and hear the people's sufferings. Congress too has bolstered DMK's efforts with Rahul Gandhi visiting the state thrice in the past 3 months - holding meeting with students, weavers, fishermen, farmers, MSME workers etc.

With AIADMK announcing its state alliance with BJP, the EPS-OPS-led party had refuted any possibility of reconciling with Sasikala, who has now been released from jail and is attempting to claim that she is the General Secretary of the AIADMK. However, as per the latest inputs, the BJP has allegedly attempted to intercede and requested EPS-OPS to offer tickets to TTV Dhinakaran's party AMMK and also possibly Sasikala so as to not divide the party's votes. The EPS-OPS-led larger faction of the AIADMK, on the other hand, is wary of Sasikala and Dhinakaran potentially ending in a position where they could be king-makers in case of a hung assembly. Meanwhile, in a bid to woo voters, EPS has announced a massive farm loan waiver, free COVID vaccines, Pongal gift and rescinded cases against Jallikattu protestors, anti-CAA protestors, COVID lockdown violators and Kudankulam nuclear power plant protestors. The election will be held on April 6 and result declared on May 2.

READ | Tamil Nadu Govt Withdraws 308 Cases Against 26,460 People From 2017 Jallikattu Protests