Congress high command shifts seat-sharing talks with DMK to a senior Tamil Nadu leader, moving away from AICC in-charge Girish Chodankar to bring more local momentum.
DMK sticks to its offer of 25 Assembly seats (same as 2021) plus one Rajya Sabha seat, while Congress demands 33–41 seats and stronger power-sharing signals.
Urgency peaks with DMK’s March 3 deadline tied to March 5 Rajya Sabha nomination filing, risking alliance strain if no deal is reached before 2026 polls.
Congress Shifts Gears In DMK Alliance Talks
High command turns to local face as DMK's 25-seat + 1 Rajya Sabha offer remains firm, with March 3 deadline looming and RS nominations closing March 5.
Summary
The decision to localize the talks was taken after high-level consultations involving Sonia Gandhi, party president Mallikarjun Kharge, and general secretary K.C. Venugopal. By empowering a senior Tamil Nadu Congress figure to handle the parleys, the party aims to bring greater local sensitivity, trust, and momentum to the dialogue with DMK counterparts, departing from Girish Chodankar's previous stewardship of the seat-sharing committee.
The ongoing deadlock centres on seat numbers. The DMK continues to stand by its "composite" offer of 25 Assembly seats, the same allocation as in 2021, along with one Rajya Sabha berth, considering it equitable given the shares extended to other INDIA bloc partners such as the DMDK and IUML. Congress has found this proposal unacceptable, having initially demanded 39 seats (roughly one per Lok Sabha constituency) before softening its ask to around 33–41 seats. The party has also been pressing for clearer signals on power-sharing within the alliance and, in some discussions, an additional Rajya Sabha slot.
The urgency of the shift is driven by the approaching Rajya Sabha timeline. The DMK has set an informal but firm March 3 deadline for clinching an agreement, directly linked to the March 5 last date for filing nominations for the biennial Rajya Sabha polls to six seats from Tamil Nadu. Without a resolution by then, the DMK could proceed unilaterally with its RS candidates, raising the risk of further strain in the INDIA bloc partnership and sparking renewed speculation about possible alternative alignments ahead of the April–May 2026 Assembly elections.
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