DMK and AIADMK in negotiations with partners; Stalemate over seat sharing continues

Seat sharing talks within the DMK alliance has reached the advanced stage as DMK makes a hard bargain with its partners like the Congress, VCK, MDMK and the left parties. A similar deadlock situation prevails in the ruling AIADMK alliance too.

Chennai (Tamil Nadu): The CPI and CPM's first round of talks with the DMK at its headquarters Anna Arivalayam ended inconclusively. The left parties expect double-digit seats but DMK denies their claim as they are looking forward to contesting in more seats.

Congress which is the second major partner in the alliance had last time contested 40 seats, and this time is looking forward to contesting in 35 seats. But DMK is reluctant to give anything more than 25 seats to Congress and stands firmly in the bargain.

A similar deadlock situation prevails in the ruling AIADMK alliance too. After sealing a deal with Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), AIADMK finds it difficult to finalize the seat-sharing deal with the BJP and Vijaykanth's DMDK.

According to the sources, the ruling party at the centre demands more than 30 seats, while All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam may not be ready to offer more than 23 seats which the party had allocated to the PMK earlier. While, Vijaykanth's DMDK too is pushing the numbers above 20 in the bargaining, whereas the AIADMK is trying to confine their number to just 15.

So, both the leading political parties of Tamil Nadu remain firm in their decision to contest more seats on their own, thereby leaving their partners to marginal counts.