Seats yes, but no sharing power, DMK to tell Cong

CHENNAI: The DMK-Congress alliance for the Tamil Nadu assembly elections is facing a challenge over the issue of power-sharing. DMK parliamentary party leader T R Baalu is likely to call on Congress president Sonia Gandhi to convey chief minister M Karunanidhi's reservations on the formation of a coalition government after the elections, party sources told TOI. Baalu will also brief Sonia on Karunanidhi's position on a workable seat-sharing formula, they said.

At the first round of talks on Sunday, the parties failed to reach an agreement on the seat-sharing ratio, with Congress demanding at least 80 seats and a share in power. Baalu's report to the DMK patriarch may set the stage for another meeting between Karunanidhi and Sonia to resolve all issues, sources said.

"Once we get an appointment with Sonia Gandhi, Baalu will pass on the party leader's message. It could be sometime this week," said a DMK source. A senior Congress leader said his party had conveyed its stand, based on the perceptions of its members as well as public mood in the run-up to the polls. "It is a question of credibility of the DMK-Congress front and that is why we made certain proposals," he said, referring to the fallout of the 2G spectrum scam.

A senior DMK MP said the party would be ready to give a maximum of 60 seats to Congress, improving on its offer of 55. Congress has been demanding a share in power ever since the DMK-led alliance won in 2006, but sources said the southern ally had failed to part with ministerial seats.

DMK sources said Congress demanded at least 80 seats, besides a common minimum programme and power-sharing, but the DMK panel differed.

A Congress leader said DMK finalised its offer of 31 seats to PMK without consulting his party and was now unwilling to give more seats to its main alliance partner. It was Congress which facilitated PMK's re-entry into the alliance and paved the way for seat-sharing talks with DMK.