Won’t sacrifice seats for Congress: PMK
March 8th, 2011 - 2:21 pm ICT by IANS
Chennai, March 8 (IANS) The PMK, which is part of the DMK-led front in Tamil Nadu, is confident it will not be asked to sacrifice some seats to satisfy the Congress demands for more seats in the assembly elections.
“Our 31 seats remain intact. We will not be asked to sacrifice seats in favour of some other party,” a PMK senior leader told IANS on condition of anonymity.
The ruling DMK has allowed PMK to contest from 31 seats. The two parties are holding discussions to finalise the constituencies for the PMK, whose strongholds are in the northern belt of Tamil Nadu.
On Saturday, the DMK decided to call off seat sharing talks with the Congress and quit the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the centre.
According to the DMK, the Congress demand of 63 seats of its choice to contest in the April 13 polls for the 234-member house was unjustifiable.
However, hectic negotiations were held Monday between the leaders of the Congress and DMK in a bid to save the seven-year-old relationship.
According to informed sources, one of the compromise formulas worked out was to agree to the Congress demand of 63 seats by taking away three seats from the PMK quota.
The DMK Tuesday started interviewing aspiring candidates. The interview panel is headed by party leader and Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi himself. The interviews will go on till March 13.
DMK senior leader M.K. Alagiri and Dayanidhi Maran - both central ministers - met Congress president Sonia Gandhi Monday night.
The DMK, which has 18 members in the Lok Sabha, is expected to take a decision Tuesday on whether its central ministers should to ahead and quit the government — or not.
- DMK ministers to resign Monday - Mar 06, 2011
- DMK-Congress stalemate may end Tuesday evening - Mar 08, 2011
- Ministers to resign Monday, no contact from Congress: DMK (Night Lead) - Mar 07, 2011
- Ministers to resign Monday, no hope of patch-up: DMK (Lead) - Mar 06, 2011
- DMK blinks, Congress gets 63 seats to contest - Mar 08, 2011
- DMK, Congress sign formal agreement on seat sharing - Mar 09, 2011
- DMK holds quit notice, parleys on with Congress (Intro Roundup) - Mar 08, 2011
- Congress, DMK preparing to shake hands again? (Night Lead) - Mar 07, 2011
- DMK, Congress in row over seat sharing (Evening Lead) - Mar 05, 2011
- DMK blinks, Congress to contest 63 seats (Lead) - Mar 08, 2011
- DMK puts ministers' resignation on hold for a day (Lead) - Mar 07, 2011
- DMK ministers to submit their resignations to PM - Mar 07, 2011
- Congress' committee to discuss seat sharing: Karunanidhi (Lead) - Feb 01, 2011
- DMK-PMK in pact for Tamil Nadu elections - Feb 18, 2011
- DMK seals one more deal - Mar 02, 2011
Tags: anonymity, assembly elections, chennai, chief minister, compromise, congress president sonia gandhi, constituencies, dayanidhi maran, dmk, favour, interview panel, Lok Sabha, monday night, negotiations, party leader, pmk, progressive alliance, quota, sacrifice, strongholds