DMK, Congress sign formal agreement on seat sharing

Chennai, Mar 9 (ANI): Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) and Congress on Wednesday signed formal agreement on seat sharing pact for the upcoming assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, under which the national party will contest 63 seats.

DMK chief M Karunanidhi and TNCC president K V Thangkabalu signed the agreement.

"Following discussions, it has been decided to share 63 seats with Congress," the copy of the agreement released to the media said.

Thangkabalu later said that the election panels of the two parties, comprising Union Ministers P Chidambaram and G K Vasan and Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin on either sides, would meet tomorrow to finalise the constituencies they will contest from.

The impasse between the Congress and the DMK over seat sharing came to an end on Tuesday evening with the former being allotted 63 seats.

The deal was announced after DMK Minister Dayanidhi Maran held two rounds of talks with Senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee.

"The Congress will be contesting 63 seats. Now we have unanimously come to the conclusion that ... the alliance will work together," Congress General Secreatory Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters in New Delhi.

"We will ensure that entire alliance is back to power. This is a winning alliance," Azad added.

In Chennai, Karunanidhi said his party has made a sacrifice in the alliance's larger interests.

Addressing a function, he said the party has accepted the Congress' demand for the extra seats in the larger interests of the state and following the policy of give and take.

He further expressed confidence that the alliance partners would fight the polls with renewed vigour so as to win again.

Karunanidhi also lauded alliance partners Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) for sacrificing one seat each for the Congress. The third seat will come out of the DMK's share.

The demand of 63 seats by Congress marks an increase of 15 seats over the number it got in the 2006 assembly elections.

This is the second highest number of seats Congress will be contesting in alliance with DMK after 1980, when both parties shared 112 seats each under an electoral pact then

The DMK currently has six ministers in the Union Cabinet, including Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister MK Alagiri and Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran - and four junior ministers - SS Palanimanickam (Finance), S Jagathrakshakan (Information and Broadcasting), D Napoleon (Social Justice and Empowerment) and S Gandhiselvan (Health and Family Welfare). (ANI)