Tamil Nadu: Seat-sharing talks set to begin between Congress and DMK

Chennai: With the Lok Sabha 2024 elections just months away, the first set of talks on seat sharing between the DMK and Congress in Tamil Nadu is set to commence today.
According to reports, Mukul Wasnik, a senior Congress leader and convener of the National Alliance Committee (NAC) is set to engage in talks with leaders from Tamil Nadu.
Subsequently, other senior Congress leaders including Salman Khurshid, Ajoy Kumar (All India Congress Committee in-charge of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry) will also hold talks with the DMK seat-sharing committee at Chennai's Anna Arivalayam today.
Sources reveal that the Congress party anticipates securing the same number of seats as they did in the 2019 elections.
Notably, in the 2019 General elections, the Congress contested 10 seats, out of which it won 9 seats, and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) contested 20 seats and emerged victorious in all of them.
The alliance led by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, won a landslide victory, taking 38 of the 39 seats.
The allocation of seats within the INDIA alliance has raised concerns as the major parties in the alliance, namely, Shiv Sena (UBT), Trinamool Congress (TMC), and the Janata Dal-United (JDU) have been firm in their demand for a certain number of seats in their respective states.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav has emphasised on the winnability factor in seat-sharing talks with Congress in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha polls and expressed confidence that a way will be found in future talks to seal a pact.
The seat sharing talks in Uttar Pradesh are crucial for INDIA block parties in their goal to take on the BJP collectively in the Lok Sabha polls expected to take place in April-May this year.
Earlier this month, Akhilesh Yadav held a meeting in Lucknow with party leaders who included former MPs, former MLAs and former MLCs and announced seat-sharing with Jayant Chaudhary's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. He said winnability is a key criterion for decision on seats.
"We and RLD's Jayant Choudhary had a good conversation. We had discussion regarding seven seats...We are also in conversation with Congress. Several meetings have taken place in Delhi. Very soon, more meetings will be held and a way will be found. INDIA alliance should be strong, the question is not of (number of ) seats but of winning. On the basis of winnability, we all will take a decision together," he said.
INDIA or 'Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance' is a group of opposition parties, including the Congress. The parties have come together to take on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and prevent it from winning a third straight term at the Centre in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.