BeyondHeadlines News Desk
New Delhi: Congress has done it. Days of high political drama ended the suspense this evening with the announcement that Congress party and the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagamthe (DMK) have reached an agreement on seat-sharing for the forthcoming assembly polls in Tamil Nadu. The rift had brought the seven-year-old alliance between the two parties on the verge of collapse.
UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi greeting DMK Chief M Karunanidhi
The DMK finally accepted to give the Congress party the 63 seats it had wanted. The DMK had earlier walked out after refusing to give in to the Congress demand. The DMK will part with 61 of those, and the other two will be taken from the DMK’s regional allies.
So far, the DMK government in Tamil Nadu has been provided external support by the Congress party. If the alliance wins this election, the Congress party wants a share in power.
The compromise formula was worked out after hectic rounds of parleys among leaders from both sides. A formal announcement in this regard will made shortly. The Congress was hopeful the it would reach a solution. The remark came after two rounds of talks DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran had with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee after failure to reach a breakthrough during a meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi last night.
As both the parties reached consensus, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who partially helped bring the poll deal back on track, said it was a “winning alliance” which would certainly form the government.
