After days of negotiations and political brinkmanship, the Congress party has accepted the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) offer to contest 27 Assembly constituencies and receive one Rajya Sabha seat, bringing an end to the prolonged seat-sharing deadlock between the two allies ahead of the upcoming Assembly election.
The agreement is expected to be formally signed this afternoon at Anna Arivalayam in Chennai, in the presence of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and senior leaders of both parties.
Congress had initially begun negotiations by demanding 41 constituencies and insisted that the party should be allotted at least one constituency in every district. The party had even submitted a list of more than 75 constituencies where it believed it had strong winning chances.
However, the DMK leadership remained firm that it could not allot more than the 25 seats given to Congress in the 2021 Assembly election. The party also reportedly presented data analysing Congress’s vote share and electoral performance, which is said to have influenced the negotiations.
The standoff escalated when Congress leaders publicly rejected the DMK’s offer of 25 seats. Congress leader Girish Chodankar had stated that the party could not accept the proposal and had even submitted a complaint to the All India Congress leadership, alleging that the DMK was unwilling to allocate additional constituencies.
As the negotiations dragged on, speculation intensified that Congress might exit the DMK alliance. Reports also suggested that one faction of Congress might consider contesting in alliance with Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), while another possibility being discussed was the formation of a splinter group within the Congress that could align separately with the DMK.
Despite the speculation, the Congress eventually agreed to the DMK’s revised offer of 27 Assembly seats and one Rajya Sabha seat.
Sources within the alliance indicated that Congress leaders recognised that the party’s electoral prospects in Tamil Nadu remain closely tied to its alliance with the DMK. It was also reportedly felt that breaking away from the DMK ahead of the Assembly election could weaken the party’s prospects in the 2029 parliamentary elections.
In the 2021 Assembly election, Congress had contested 25 seats as part of the DMK-led alliance and won 18 constituencies, giving the party its current strength of 18 MLAs in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
From the DMK’s side, the leadership maintained throughout the negotiations that allocating more seats would be difficult because several additional parties had joined the alliance since the previous election. These include the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam, Thamimun Ansari’s Manithaneya Jananayaga Katchi, Thaniyarasu’s Kongu Ilaignar Peravai, and Karunas’s Mukulathor Pulipadai, among others.
At one stage, the talks nearly collapsed, with Congress reportedly considering leaving the alliance and the DMK indicating that the party was free to exit the coalition if it wished.
The stalemate was broken after former Union minister P. Chidambaram met Chief Minister M.K. Stalin at his residence in Alwarpet, Chennai, along with Tamil Nadu Congress president Selvaperunthagai. During the discussions, the Congress leaders conveyed that the party’s central leadership preferred to continue the alliance but requested that additional constituencies be allotted.
Following the discussions, and amid pressure from leaders of the All India Congress, Stalin agreed to increase the allocation by two additional seats, raising the total to 27 constituencies.
Under the agreement, Congress will also receive one Rajya Sabha seat. In the DMK-led alliance, four Rajya Sabha seats are available, of which one has already been allotted to DMDK, another will go to Congress, while the remaining two candidates will be announced by the DMK.
With the agreement now finalised, the DMK–Congress alliance pact, which had remained in limbo for several days, is expected to be formally signed this afternoon following the breakthrough in talks mediated by P. Chidambaram.
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