DMK, Congress seat talks still held up

CHENNAI: With only 17 days to go for filing of nominations for the April 13 Tamil Nadu assembly elections, the ruling DMK and Congress failed to wrap up a seat-sharing deal after several contentious rounds of talks. This followed a meeting on Wednesday night between Union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, the special emissary of the Congress high command, and chief minister M Karunanidhi at the DMK headquarters.

The meeting, which lasted one and a half hours, was marked by tough bargaining with Congress demanding at least 60 seats, while DMK is willing to give a maximum of 57 seats. Azad will leave for New Delhi on Thursday morning and is expected to submit a report to party chief Sonia Gandhi. The talks will continue on Thursday.

In separate talks with Gounder outfit Kongu Nadu Munnetra Kazhagam, the DMK clinched a deal with the party for contesting 7 seats.

With the Congress demanding not less than 60 seats, the DMK s share is likely to come down significantly. While it contested 129 seats in the last state poll, the party will get only around 120 seats after apportioning 31 seats to PMK and 10 to VCK.