Seat-sharing in Tamil Nadu: Congress to share list of 21 Lok Sabha seats with DMK

INDIA seat-sharing: The first round of discussions on seat sharing between MK Stalin-led DMK and Congress will be held today at the DMK Headquarters - Anna Arivalayam - in Chennai, according to news agency ANI. The Congress is likely to give a list of 21 preferable constituencies to contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha election 2024, the report said. 

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Tamil Nadu has 39 Lok Sabha seats and of these, the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance had bagged 38 with over 53 per cent votes while one seat went to the AIADMK in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The DMK had won 20 of the 20 seats it contested, Congress bagged 8 of 9, and the rest of the seats were won by other alliance partners.  

Senior Congress leader Mukul Wasnik will hold a discussion with the state leaders. Later, the Congress leaders will meet the DMK Seat Sharing Committee at Anna Arivalayam.

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Speaking on the seat-sharing in the state, DMK leader TKS Elangovan said his party does not know what the Congress has in their mind. "In Tamil Nadu, the alliance is very strong and we will win all 40 seats," he said. 

The DMK leader said that there may be initial issues in some states but everybody wants the BJP out of power. "That way, everybody is very strong except Nitish Kumar because he had already been with the BJP. The rest of the parties want the BJP to be out of power in the Centre, so we will stand united."

On JDU President Nitish Kumar's resignation as Bihar CM, the DMK leader suggested some pressure on Nitish from the BJP. He said the BJP wanted to break the INDIA alliance because they were afraid they might lose the elections. "They have particularly chosen Bihar by convincing Nitish Kumar that Lalu Prasad will become CM. That might be used against Lalu Prasad since both of them are in the same alliance, and Nitish Kumar might lose his seat. Our party leaders will have a talk with them," he said.