- Congress and DMK agree on seat-sharing for 2026 with Congress getting 28 assembly seats
- Congress accepts DMK's stance on power sharing in exchange for immediate Rajya Sabha seat
- Multiple last-minute talks between Congress and DMK leaders saved the alliance deal
As the Congress and the DMK end their haggling and sign a seat-sharing arrangement for 2026, much like in 2021, a lot went on behind the scenes before the party eventually fell in line. The junior partner, which demanded over 40 seats at the start of negotiations, finally had to accept just 28 assembly seats - almost what the DMK had offered in the beginning. The Congress also had to accept the DMK's "no compromise" stand on power sharing. In return, the DMK will offer an immediate Rajya Sabha seat.
Unofficially, sources say, one more Rajya Sabha seat has been agreed upon, perhaps in 2028 for P Chidambaram, if the alliance wins.
Many may now question whether all the drama, shenanigans and ostensible optics from Congress strategists of considering an alliance with the TVK and driving a "respectable" bargain was necessary.
The final share for the Congress - one Rajya Sabha and 28 assembly seats -- is just 3 assembly seats more than what was offered when senior Congress leader KC Venugopal met Chief Minister MK Stalin and Kanimozhi Karunanidhi in Chennai.
From the start, it was, perhaps, clear that the top leadership on both sides wanted to make it work.
While Congress MLAs from the state seem to have weighed in favour of continuing the DMK alliance, a large section of workers was pushing for going with the TVK.
The drama was in the details and much could have gone wrong there. Sources say there were multiple rounds of last-minute talks between Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Kanimozhi, who was instrumental as the DMK's unofficial chief negotiator.
From the Congress side, Kharge ensured that everyone in the party was brought on board.
The party citing the final deal as one approved by Kharge could be seen as an effort to shield Rahul and Sonia Gandhi from a bargain the rank and file may not be very excited with, but strategists claim otherwise.
Congress sources say Rahul Gandhi was keen to not accept anything below 35 seats, but Kharge influenced the final decision. They point out the entry of P Chidambaram at the last minute and side-stepping official negotiator Girish Chodankar was Kharge's decision. It may be hard to believe that Kharge overruled the first family, but Congress leaders insist it was the party President's decision.
Sources added that the conversations between Kanimozhi and Kharge after former Finance Minister P Chidambaram met Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday had helped save the alliance.
Sources also say that when negotiations had hit a deadlock with the party's chief negotiator Girish Chodankar, backroom talks between Congress MP Karti Chidambaram and Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, set the stage for Chidambaram's meeting with Stalin. The meeting, which the latter apparently insisted had to be one-on-one, took place after Sonia Gandhi and Kharge had endorsed Chidambaram as the troubleshooter.
In 2021, when seat-sharing talks between the two parties had reached a point of embarrassment, Kanimozhi and Karnataka MLA Dinesh Gundu Rao sorted out the alliance seat-sharing tussle.
It seems to have been more complicated this time.
Ultimately, the Congress, like in 2021, will be seen as accepting fewer seats in the state for the sake of numbers in Parliament. Perhaps the party could have avoided a public spectacle of this bargaining and creating an optics of friction within the alliance. Whether it was worth such haggling for just three more assembly seats is a question the Congress needs to ask itself.
