Tamil Nadu Elections 2021, Congress-DMK seat-sharing: MK Stalin-led DMK has offered 25 assembly seats and the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha constituency to its ally the Congress for upcoming assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. A formal pact was signed by DMK chief Stalin and Tamil Nadu Congress Committee chief KS Alagiri at the DMK’s headquarters ‘Anna Arivalayam’. The Tamil Nadu Assembly has 234 seats. The DMK, which swept the Lok Sabha polls in 2019, has allotted 48 seats to allies. While Congress has got 25, Vaiko’s MDMK, Thirumavalavan’s Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and CPI have got six every single. The Indian Union Muslim League has got 3 and Manithaneya Makkal Katchi just 2.
Speaking on the agreement with the DMK, Congress in-charge for Tamil Nadu Dinesh Gundu Rao stated that the pact was signed in “a spirit of cooperation” when the nation was facing a severe “threat” from the BJP. When asked if his party was happy with the quantity of seats allotted to it, Rao stated the only aim was to make certain the victory of the secular front led by DMK. He stated that as soon as each the parties signed an agreement, they had to be happy simply because this had been carried out right after a lot of deliberations. “Our only aim is now to see that the secular front wins. The time for being satisfied or dissatisfied is over. Now we are on the battlefield. We have to take on our opponents,” Rao stated.
The Congress leader additional stated that the choice on accepting the DMK’s present was taken only right after consulting all senior leaders and the higher command and there was no distinction of opinion inside the Congress. TNCC chief Alagiri, on the other hand, stated that the Congress was “fully satisfied.” Targeting the BJP, Gundu Rao stated that the battle against the saffron party was not confined to ideology alone, but extended to “saving democracy” from its clutches. The nation, he stated, was becoming run like a “dictatorship” and elected governments of opposition parties had been toppled. He was referring to Puducherry exactly where the Congress government not too long ago fell right after losing majority in the House.