Stalemate continues over sharing of seats between Congress, DMK

NEW DELHI/CHENNAI: After the DMK finalised its seat sharing with the IUML and other smaller parties, there is still no clarity on its arrangement with the Congress as both the parties declined to comment on the recent parleys between them.

Congress state in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao when contacted on the phone said, "I will talk later and don't want to comment on it."

But, sources say that DMK is not inclined to give more seats to the Congress citing Bihar results. The Congress wants to contest on at least 50 seats, 10 more than the last polls when it contested 41. DMK sources said the Congress will not be given so many seats and only around 25 seats will be given.

However, reports say that this number is unacceptable to the Congress, which is putting its total strength in campaigning and the visit of Rahul Gandhi was part of the strategy to pressurise the DMK to yield more seats.

The Congress has called its state leaders to deliberate on the issue in Chennai. The party may go for a friendly contest on some seats, sources say but the state leadership will be deciding on it. The 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly will be held in a single phase on April 6. (IANS)

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