Chennai, March 2 (NationPress) The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has established March 3 as an unofficial cutoff for the Congress leadership to wrap up seat-sharing discussions for the forthcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. The DMK emphasized it cannot endure any further postponements, particularly with the Rajya Sabha biennial elections looming.

The final date for submitting nominations for the March 16 Rajya Sabha elections is March 5. Given that the DMK-led coalition is positioned to secure four Upper House seats while the opposing AIADMK front is likely to garner two, the ruling party is eager to finalize its candidates without uncertainty regarding alliance arrangements.

A senior leader from the DMK mentioned on Monday that if the Congress does not promptly return to the negotiating table, the DMK will move forward with announcing its Rajya Sabha candidates unilaterally.

“We need to make a decision before March 5. If the Congress does not engage in discussions, we will proceed without them,” stated the leader.

In the ongoing discussions regarding Assembly seat distribution, the DMK has proposed 25 constituencies to the Congress—matching the allocation from the 2021 elections. However, Congress has been advocating for more than 35 seats, initially seeking 39, which corresponds to each Lok Sabha constituency in the state, alongside two Rajya Sabha seats.

Girish Chodankar, the AICC in charge of Tamil Nadu and the head of the Congress seat-sharing committee, labeled the DMK's current offer as “unacceptable.”

While he characterized the initial round of negotiations as “positive,” he insisted that talks could only proceed if the Congress’ demands were satisfied.

However, DMK leadership has made it clear that it will not increase the Assembly seat allocation beyond 25.

Party insiders have noted that the Congress’ perceived willingness to collaborate with actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) has particularly frustrated the DMK.

Chodankar recently emphasized that TVK should not be overlooked, citing its rising popularity among young voters and its recognition of the Congress and Rahul Gandhi's impact in Tamil Nadu.

Despite these concerns, a senior DMK leader asserted that the party is not excessively worried about a potential Congress-TVK partnership, indicating that the DMK has already solidified a robust coalition. Regarding speculation about Rahul Gandhi's attendance at the DMK’s Tiruchi conference later this month, the leader noted that such decisions would only be made after the seat-sharing discussions are finalized.

aal/rad