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After weeks of simmering tensions, the first formal meeting between the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Indian National Congress to discuss seat-sharing concluded in Chennai without any numbers being finalised, sources told TNM.
The talks, held at the DMK headquarters, marked the official start of negotiations within the ruling Secular Progressive Alliance. A Congress committee led by All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge Girish Chodankar placed its demands before the DMK leadership, seeking a larger share of seats than in previous elections.
According to DMK sources, the Congress demanded 45 Assembly seats and two Rajya Sabha berths as part of the arrangement. “Though discussions took place, no number was finalised during the meeting,” a DMK source said, adding that the party had conveyed its limitations due to the need to accommodate new alliance partners.
Congress sources, however, maintained that the party would push the DMK to part with at least 41 Assembly seats and two Upper House nominations. During the meeting, DMK leaders reportedly asked the Congress delegation to arrive at a decision before nominations for the Rajya Sabha are finalised.
Shortly after the talks, Chodankar left for Delhi, signalling that further discussions would continue at the central leadership level.
The inconclusive meeting comes as the DMK simultaneously weighs its own options for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. Senior party leader Constantine Ravindran has emerged as one of the names under consideration for nomination, sources familiar with internal discussions said.
Ravindran, currently a secretary in the DMK’s spokesperson committee, figures in a shortlist being discussed as alliance-level negotiations intensify. A former close aide of late actor-politician Vijayakant, Ravindran was once a prominent figure in the DMDK and had contested the 2016 Assembly elections before quitting the party.
He joined the DMK in July 2016 after meeting party president and Chief Minister M K Stalin, citing dissatisfaction with the DMDK’s functioning and a perceived erosion of public support.