Congress-DMK talk, seat sharing not decided

The DMK and the Congress held discussions here on Friday and decided to have further talks on seat sharing for the Tamil Nadu assembly elections.

A Congress delegation led by former union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mukul Wasnik and Tamil Nadu Congress president E.V.K.S. Elangovan called on DMK president M. Karunanidhi.

On the DMK side, apart from Karunanidhi, party treasurer M.K. Stalin, senior leader Duraimurugan and Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi were present.

Speaking to reporters, Azad said the subject of seat sharing came up but nothing was decided. He said the parties discussed the electoral strategy to be followed.

He said more time had been given to the DMK on the number of seats to be allotted to the Congress.

He said DMK was expecting a couple of more parties to join its front to fight the next month's Tamil Nadu assembly polls.

Stalin said the talks with Congress leaders were cordial.

In the 2011 elections, the Congress was given 63 seats by the DMK after some hard bargaining.

The DMK came out of the Congress-led central government in 2013, accusing New Delhi of not handling the Sri Lanka crisis well.

The two parties fought the 2014 Lok Sabha elections separately in Tamil Nadu but drew a blank.