Congress to contest 48 seats in Tamil Nadu
by Jai Krishna

     Chennai: The Dravida Munhetra Kazgham (DMK) on Thursday finalised the seat-sharing agreement with the Congress under which the Congress will contest 48 seats in Tamil Nadu assembly polls on May 8. The agreement was signed between DMK President M Karunanidhi and Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) President M Krishnasamy at the DMK Headquarters, here. The deal was finalized after a Congress delegation led by Krishnasamy and Congress Legislature Party Leader S R Balasubramoniyam met Karunanidhi, this morning.

     In 2001 assembly polls, the All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazgham (AIADMK) had allotted 45 seats to the Congress and the then TMC. In the last Lok Sabha elections, Congress won all 10 of the seats it contested. The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) is not aligning with the DMK or the AIADMK in the assembly elections. On the other hand, the Communist Party of India (CPI) will contest 10 seats in assembly polls. In this matter an agreement was inked by the State CPI Secretary D Pandiyan and DMK President M Karunanidhi on March 7. CPI is the first party in the six-party democratic progressive alliance to reach an accord with the DMK.

     In the last assembly polls, CPI contested eight seats and won five seats in alliance with the AIADMK. In the Lok Sabha polls, the party won the Tenkasi (SC) and Coimbatore seats allotted to it by the DMK. Tamil Nadu will have a one-day poll on May 8 for all 234 assembly seats. On March 5, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) formed a four-member committee to hold talks to identify constituencies with its new ally the ruling AIADMK for the Assembly polls. Irked over DMK offer of 22 seats against the minimum demand of 25 seats to its Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) ally MDMK, the latter earlier decided to part ways with DMK and form alliance with AIADMK.

     Earlier, the MDMK had inked a deal with the AIADMK under which it had been allotted a total of 35 seats. There are 234 Assembly constituencies in the state. After the DMK`s General Council meeting here on March 3, Karunanidhi had said that his party could only offer 22 seats to MDMK, apparently to prompt the Vaiko-led party to switch sides. In its 13 years of existence, this is first time when MDMK will be facing assembly polls in alliance with a major political party in Tamil Nadu.

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