The five-member committee formed by the Congress to hold seat-sharing negotiations with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) for the 2026 Assembly elections held a consultative meeting with senior leaders of Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) at Sathyamurthy Bhavan in Chennai on Sunday.
Members who attended the meeting said the committee would soon request the DMK leadership to fix a date for a meeting and kickstart the negotiations.
The senior leadership reportedly communicated to TNCC president K. Selvaperunthagai to seek ‘substantially’ higher number of seats. “This would mean that 25 seats, given in 2021, wouldn’t be acceptable to the Congress. The senior leaderships want a substantially higher number,” he said.
Another senior leader said there was nothing ‘concrete’ that came out of the meeting. The committee offered various suggestions. “This time, there is a willingness to wrap up the seat-sharing negotiations early,” he said.
AICC in-charge of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, Girish Chodankar said the meeting was to understand the party’s strength and weaknesses, how to approach the assembly elections and alliance partners.
“All of them have expressed confidence that we will be forming the next government. Our approach will be to build our cadre strength and putting together a united fight. As and when things happen about seat-sharing negotiations, we will keep you updated,” he said.
Mr. Chodankar said, “We will sit with the committee and compile all the inputs from our senior leaders and then decide. We want to give seats to youngsters and women.”
Regarding of the recent adverse result in Bihar Assembly polls for INDIA bloc, he claimed, “It is a victory of the Election Commission of India and they have defeated the people of Bihar. We will not let them defeat the people of Tamil Nadu.”
Published – November 24, 2025 05:30 am IST
