By IANS,
Chennai: With only a month for the Tamil Nadu elections, the ruling DMK is meeting Saturday to decide whether or not to ally with the Congress, which insists on contesting from 63 of 234 constituencies.
The DMK has called the Congress demand “unjustified”.
In a statement past midnight Friday, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi said: “Tonight over the phone, the Congress expressed their demand for 63 seats of their choice.
“Is it practical for the Congress to demand 63 seats and expect them to be given? The issue will be discussed (Saturday) and appropriate decision will be taken.”
Karunanidhi said that in 2006, the DMK contested 132 seats, Congress 48, PMK 31, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) 13 and the Communist Party of India (CPI) 10 seats.
He said that with the communist parties parting ways, the additional 23 seats had to be distributed to the allies like the VCK, KMK and others.
He said the Congress was told that after allotting seats to other parties, the remaining would be shared between the Congress and the DMK.
This calculation, he said, would leave the Congress with 51 seats. However, since the Congress wanted more seats, he increased the number of seats to first 53, then 55, again 58 and finally 60.
The was was conveyed to Congress general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad.
The Congress is reportedly upset over the DMK’s generous allocation of seats to other mostly smaller parties.
On Wednesday night, immediately after Azad left, the DMK allocated seven seats to the KMK.
The DMK has signed electoral pacts with five parties involving 52 seats – KMK (7), MMK (1), VCK (10), PMK (31) and the Indian Union Muslim League (3 seats).
After giving away 60 seats to the Congress, the DMK would be left with just 122 for itself. If it concedes 63, it will be left with 117, which is just two over the halfway mark in the 234-member house.
Tamil Nadu goes to the polls April 13.