Congress-DMK Yet To Seal Alliance In Puducherry As Nominations Close On March 23

New Delhi: Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), are yet to seal their alliance in Puducherry even as nominations for the upcoming Assembly elections in the Union Territory will close on March 23.

The Congress and the DMK had sealed their alliance for Tamil Nadu on March 4, after weeks of tough negotiations and only after the intervention of the parties' top leadership. Under the deal, the Congress will contest 28 of 234 Assembly seats. Congress insiders said the party had demanded 39 seats but settled for less to keep the alliance intact.

The party insiders said Congress agreed to less number of seats because traditionally, the DMK had been the lead partner in Tamil Nadu while the Congress used to get the bigger share of seats in Puducherry. In the 2021 Assembly elections, the Congress had contested 21 seats while the DMK fought on nine seats of the total 30.

Congress insiders said the Puducherry alliance got delayed initially because of late response from the DMK which had been suggesting that both the allies should contest 14 seats each and leave two for their allies. The grand old party rejected the formula saying it would not like to deviate from the 2021 formula.

“Negotiations are on between the parties. The DMK had suggested a new formula but we are not okay with it. We want the old formula to continue. We are aware of the last date for nominations. We hope to close the deal but the outcome will depend on how the talks go. If anything has to happen, it should happen by Saturday,” AICC in charge of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Girish Chodankar told ETV Bharat.

All 234 Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu will go to polls on April 23 while the 30 seats in Puducherry will vote on April 9. Congress insiders said the party was concerned over the developing situation as the window for negotiations narrowed down ahead of the March 23 deadline for the nominations. To deal with any eventuality, which meant going solo as well, the Congress insiders said the party had identified candidates on all 30 seats and would publish the names if needed.

The Congress central election committee chaired by leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and party chief Mallikarjun Kharge had met on March 18 to review the names on the 30 seats suggested by the screening committee which met on March 17.

Former Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy hoped the Congress and DMK alliance will be worked out soon and noted that consultations for the same were going on. “The nominations close on Monday but I think the alliance will stay and a seat-sharing formula will be worked out soon,” Narayanasamy told ETV Bharat.

The former chief minister said the Congress was in a very good position in Puducherry and would launch its campaign after the withdrawal of nominations was over on March 26. He said the voters were miffed with the NDA government and are in a mood to support the grand old party after the recent yatra across Puducherry.

“The NDA government has lost the people’s trust due to corruption issues and not keeping promises. Unemployment among the youth is high. Puducherry wants change. The Congress is ready to lead a people-friendly government. We have worked on the ground over the past five years. We built our organization and raised people’s issues during this period. The public response to our recent walk for puducherry was positive,” he said.

While the Congress has targeted the Puducherry's NDA government, it has been all praise for the Tami Nadu’s DMK led government.

After the Congress and the DMK closed the Tamil Nadu alliance, the local leaders of the grand old party had been noting that the combine would retain power based on the work done under chief minister MK Stalin over the past five years. Both had also been attacking the BJP which is trying to gain presence in the southern state through regional ally AIADMK, PMK and AMMK.

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