The Hindu : DMK, Congress reach accord on seat-sharing

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 03, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

DMK, Congress reach accord on seat-sharing

By R.K. Radhakrishnan

Kamal Nath, All-India Congress Committee general secretary (right), and the DMK chief, M. Karunanidhi, showing the document on seat-sharing agreement for the Lok Sabha elections reached in Chennai on Monday. - Photo: N. Balaji

CHENNAI, FEB. 2. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Congress today concluded a seat-sharing arrangement for the Lok Sabha elections, sidestepping the contentious issue of Pondicherry. In the DMK-led alliance, the seat was already allotted to the Pattali Makkal Katchi.

The DMK president, M. Karunanidhi, spoke to the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, over telephone from Chennai, in the presence of the All-India Congress Committee emissaries, Kamal Nath and Daljit Singh, and the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president, G.K. Vasan, marking the culmination of the long-winding negotiations.

The AICC emissaries said Pondicherry was a different State and that the party would "try and find ways" of bringing about an amicable solution. ``Everything happens milestone by milestone,'' Mr. Kamal Nath said to a question whether the Congress had given up its claim to the Pondicherry seat. ``There is no question of sacrifice or compromise. It is a question of harmonising our strengths.''

Asked whether Pondicherry was still open to negotiations, Mr. Karunanidhi brushed aside the question. ``Certain things in Pondicherry will always be open.'' Asked whether the offer of a Rajya Sabha seat to the Congress was still valid, he said this issue figured initially. ``Similar ideas are now under consideration.''

`New chapter'

Mr. Kamal Nath also announced the remaining three seats — Salem, Periyakulam and Tirunelveli — out of the 10 allotted to the party. (Each of the seats was comfortably won by the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the last elections.) Seven of the 10 seats the Congress will contest are now held by the AIADMK.

But Mr. Kamal Nath dismissed suggestions that the Congress was given constituencies where the AIADMK had a strong presence.

``That is a very subjective assessment. We believe that the AIADMK is not strong anywhere.''

With the seat-sharing exercise complete, the Congress would ``now start a new chapter in Tamil Nadu,'' he asserted.

The DMK will contest 15 Lok Sabha seats, including the 11 it won last time. Of the remaining four, the DMK will contest two seats it lost in 1999 — Karur and Ramanathapuram — while Pudukottai and Tiruchengodu are additions. In 1999, the DMK contested 17 seats.

New Delhi visit

Mr. Karunanidhi said he would go to New Delhi after Ms. Gandhi's Chennai visit. He had not invited her to the DMK's south zone conference. ``Only alliance leaders in Tamil Nadu have been invited.''

The DMK would receive applications from aspirants between February 5 and 7.

The committee constituted by the leadership would scrutinise the applications on February 8.

The recommendations of some district secretaries and the high-level policy committee would also be solicited before a decision was arrived at.

Mr. Karunanidhi said the Dalit Panthers of India and the Puthiya Tamizhagam forming a different front would not affect the chances of the DMK front.

The DMK took credit for being the first alliance in the country to not only put together a full front of parties but also complete allocation of seats to all constituents even before the election notification or announcement of the poll schedule was made.

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