"Ready to discuss seat sharing with DMK": Tamil Nadu Congress chief Selvaperunthagai K

Madurai (Tamil Nadu) [India], February 21 (ANI): Tamil Nadu Congress President Selvaperunthagai K on Saturday said that the party is ready to discuss a seat-sharing formula with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) for the upcoming 2026 Legislative Assembly elections.
Selvaperunthagai told ANI, "We are ready to talk to DMK for seat sharing and negotiation. The INDIA bloc is already a powerful alliance and is going to be more powerful. On February 22, they are calling smaller parties. Then they will call the major parties."
Congress is currently part of the DMK-led alliance in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
Earlier today, the DMK constituted a committee to hold discussions with alliance parties regarding seat-sharing arrangements.
In a statement, DMK General Secretary Durai Murugan announced that the party headquarters has set up a panel to conduct negotiations with its allies as part of early preparations for the upcoming polls.
The committee will be chaired by party Treasurer TR Baalu. Other members of the panel include Principal Secretary KN Nehru, Deputy General Secretaries Tiruchi Siva and A Raja, Organising Secretary RS Bharathi, and High-Level Executive Committee members EV Velu and MRK Panneerselvam.
Further discussions with allies are likely to take place in the coming months as political activities gradually intensify in the state, the statement further read.
The 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly will go to the polls in the first half of 2026, where the MK Stalin-led alliance will look to project the 'Dravidian Model 2.0' for the win against the BJP-AIADMK alliance. Actor-turned-politician Vijay's entry with his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) is expected to turn the Tamil Nadu polls into a three-way contest.
In the 2021 polls, the DMK won 133 seats in the 2021 Assembly polls. Congress won 18, PMK won five, VCK won four, and others won eight seats. The Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), led by DMK, which consisted of Congress, won 159 seats collectively.
While the NDA won 75 seats, the AIADMK emerged as the largest party in the alliance with 66 seats. (ANI)