The Hindu : Accord on Congress seats likely today

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 30, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Accord on Congress seats likely today

By Our Special Correspondent

Congress and DMK leaders are all smiles at a meeting in Chennai on Thursday. From left are G. K. Vasan, M. K. Stalin, Kamal Nath, Dayanidhi Maran, M. Karunanidhi, Durai Murugan and S.R. Balasubramaniam. — Photo: Vino John

CHENNAI, JAN. 29. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Congress are expected to reach an agreement tomorrow on the number of Lok Sabha seats the Congress will contest in the State.

The issue is being discussed ``at the highest levels in both the parties,'' said Kamal Nath, All-India Congress Committee emissary, who met the DMK leadership here for an hour this morning.

The seat-sharing committees of both parties would meet tomorrow to identify the constituencies the Congress would contest from. ``They will look at various aspects of the constituencies so that the strengths of both parties are supplemented and complemented to defeat the AIADMK-BJP alliance.''

On Pondicherry, Mr. Kamal Nath said the issue of the Congress contesting the seat was ``still under discussion'' and it was talking to alliance partners. He denied that there was any crisis in the party because of the DMK allocating the seat to the Pattali Makkal Katchi. ``In a large political party like the Congress, there is a lot of enthusiasm; there are some issues which, I am hopeful, we will resolve.'' Mr. Kamal Nath attributed part of the problem to the presence of many parties in the alliance. Even the DMK would contest fewer seats this time round, he said.

``For the first time in Tamil Nadu there is an alliance that covers all sections — a formidable and credible alliance which, we are confident would set an electoral record,'' he said.

"The idea is that the alliance must win. The alliance must defeat the AIADMK-BJP combine.''

It was ``moving forward firmly, surely and successfully.'' Mr. Kamal Nath said his meeting with the DMK president, M. Karunanidhi, was to introduce members of the Congress seat-sharing committee.

The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) chief, G.K. Vasan; the former TNCC presidents, E.V.K.S. Elangovan, S. Balakrishnan, K.V. Thangkabalu, Tindivanam Ramamurthy and Kumari Ananthan, and the party leaders, S.R. Balasubramaniam and Jayanthi Natarajan, were with Mr. Kamal Nath when he called on the DMK leadership.

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