Tamil Nadu Assembly polls: Rift in Congress over seat allocation

Days ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, a rift seems to have emerged inside Congress over seat allocation to candidates for the assembly polls.

A protest over the allocation of tickets for the polls, led by the Congress Lok Sabha MP Vishnu Prasad, was called off after an assurance by the party's state chief KS Alagiri on the issue.

Tamil Nadu Congress president Alagiri stated: "We are discussing with all the cadres and their views are being taken. We will inform the party's high command in Delhi about the developments. The final decision on the issue will be taken by them. It's our responsibility to take all our party members' views and inform the high command."

On March 7, Congress and DMK signed a pact wherein Congress decided for contesting 25 constituencies for the upcoming Assembly polls in the state. DMK will contest for 173 seats.

However, Congress Lok Sabha MP Vishnu Prasad on Saturday expressed displeasure over seat allocation of candidates by the party for the upcoming Assembly polls in the state.

"A candidate who joined DMK last month has been recalled by Congress and given ticket to represent the party from Sholinghur constituency who lost many times from the same constituency. The party should not give tickets to those who have re-joined the party. Hence, to express our dissatisfaction, we had carried out this protest. Now, after being given assurances from our party, we announced our withdrawal from the protests," Prasad told ANI.

"As of now, we have no specific choice of candidate for that constituency. We all have expressed our view to the Congress party. We, as a party, will stay united now. I hope that our alliance sweeps the polls. We just wanted the message to reach the high command of the Congress party. The high commands of the party took cognizance and will now act accordingly," the Congress leader said.

Prasad told reporters: "We announce withdrawal from this protest. We were carrying out these protests to make our point of view to be heard. The Congress party has assured us to look into the matter. Under Rahul Gandhi's leadership, we will surely win the election. We have decided to conclude the protest and participate in the election process with all togetherness."

Congress' Karur Member of Parliament (MP) Jothimani on Saturday took to social media (Twitter) to support the cadres alleging that the party was selecting the wrong candidates. The Congress leader slammed the party and said that the party was not ready to take their suggestions and added that even candidates who have winning chances were being ignored.

"I am aware of the agitated state of minds of cadres. There is no transparency in the selection of candidates. There are many mistakes, about which I had raised questions. There is no response yet. Congress is made of cadres blood and hard work. To destroy that, no one has moral rights," she said.

She said: 'It is unacceptable that those who have worked for the party for many years, those who have remained true loyalists and those who have winning chances are being ignored. It is atrocious that only those with money power could get seats."

Voting for the 234-member Tamil Nadu assembly will take place on April 6. The results will be announced on May 2. In the 2016 Assembly elections, the AIADMK won 134 seats, DMK bagged 89 seats and Congress won 8 seats.