Set up seat-sharing committee immediately, Congress tells DMK

Upset over the DMK delaying seat-sharing talks for the upcoming Assembly election, senior Congress leaders on Tuesday made it clear that time was running out, and an immediate decision was required.

“The election process has changed. The Congress president [Mallikarjun Kharge] is worried that selecting candidates at the last minute and then going to the people won’t work. We have had unpleasant experiences in the Bihar and Maharashtra elections,” Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K. Selvaperunthagai told journalists in New Delhi.

Not mincing words, Girish Chodankar, All India Congress Committee in-charge of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, said the Congress cadre were pained [by the DMK’s attitude].

“We are not blaming anyone; we are only presenting the facts. Seventy days have passed since the Congress president formed the five-member committee in November and met the Chief Minister (and DMK leader M.K. Stalin) on December 3. We are waiting with the hope that they would start negotiations so that we would have an idea about the number of seats we would contest from, and what those seats are. We can start preparing. It is saddening that they have not constituted a committee, and have not started negotiations. Elections are fast approaching, and we need sufficient time,” he said.

The two leaders were interacted with journalists after a meeting with the AICC leadership on the Assembly election.

Mr. Selvaperunthagai appealed to Mr. Stalin to immediately form the negotiation committee, get done with the seat-sharing exercise, and move on to the electoral battlefield, instead of starting negotiations at the last minute. He said the delay had disturbed the national Congress leaders’ plans to tour Tamil Nadu.

When asked why Rahul Gandhi or other Congress leaders were yet to visit Tamil Nadu when BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah had done so, Mr. Selvaperunthagai said, “Rahul ji and Kharge are ready, but we can bring them to Tamil Nadu only after the negotiations are done.”

“Congress leaders want the DMK to form the committee soon to start negotiations. We will communicate the same to the Chief Minister,” he said.