Chennai, Jan 29: Senior Congress leaders, led by AICC general secretary Kamal Nath, today met DMK chief M Karunanidhi 70 discuss seat sharing among the partners of the democratic progressive alliance for the coming Lok Sabha polls here. The eleven-member team, included AICC secretary Daljit Singh, AICC observer P J Kurien, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president G K Vasan, former TNCC presidents E V K S Elangovan and Tindivanam Ramamurthy, former Union Minister Jayanthi Natarajan and senior Congress leader S R Balasubramaniam. The talks come in the wake of the month-end deadline set by Karunanidhi to conclude the seat-sharing talks among the DPA allies.
After formalising the alliance with the DMK after a gap of 23 years, the Congress had sent its emissaries -- CWC member Manmohan Singh and Kamal Nath -- to meet the DMK president on January 25 and finalise the seat-sharing arrangement.
However, the leaders failed to arrive at a consensus, with the DMK's decision to allot the lone Pondicherry seat, a Congress citadel, to the PMK proving to be a hitch.
Meanwhile, DMK sources said the party was likely to allocate ten or 11 seats to the Congress.
Bureau Report