Cong-DMK will begin seat-sharing talks soon, says TNCC chief

Denying any rift in the Congress-DMK ties, TNCC chief K Selvaperunthagai on Friday said the two parties will begin the seat-sharing negotiations in a week. DMK deputy general secretary Kanimozhi said the initial talks between the two parties were ''smooth'' and that party president M K Stalin would made the announcement after the talks concluded. Selvaperunthagai exuded confidence that his party would get the expected number of seats during the talks with the DMK. ''We are not exerting pressure on our ally. We will ask and get what we want and the DMK will give (us),'' Selvaperunthagai told reporters in Tiruvallur, about 45 km from here. On Kanimozhi's meeting with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the national capital, recently, the TNCC chief said, ''We are holding talks. We will again begin the talks in about a week.'' He took a dig at AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami's meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah with his face ''masked'' and said, ''Unlike that meeting, Kanimozhi's meeting with our leader was straightforward and dignified.'' The Congress was allotted 25 seats in the 2021 Assembly election by the DMK but won in 18 segments. While on a visit to Tuticorin, Kanimozhi told reporters that the talks between the DMK and Congress was ''progressing smoothly.'' ''Our party president will make an announcement once the discussions conclude,'' the Lok Sabha member said without going into the details about her meeting with Rahul Gandhi.