Congress and DMK fail to seal pact as both remain firm on seat positions

Despite senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram holding an hour-long meeting with DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday, March 3, 2026, to break the ice on seat-sharing for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, the gap between the Congress’s expectations and the DMK’s offer remained, preventing the two parties from finalizing a deal.

Sources said the DMK has increased its bid from 25 to 27 Assembly seats and one Rajya Sabha seat, while the Congress leadership has demanded 30 Assembly seats and one Rajya Sabha seat.

While Mr. Chidambaram has conveyed the DMK’s offer to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who along with Sonia Gandhi has asked him to negotiate on behalf of the party, the offer is still awaiting Rahul Gandhi’s approval.

Meanwhile, DMK has allotted one Rajya Sabha seat to Premallatha Vijayakant-led Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK). The agreement signed by Mr Stalin and DMDK treasurer LK Sudheesh stated that both parties would hold talks to finalize the seat-sharing arrangement for the Assembly elections. Thus, DMDK is set to be represented in the Rajya Sabha for the first time despite not having a single legislator in the Assembly.

The DMK has three more Rajya Sabha seats that it can fill with the support of its allies during the biennial elections on March 16. The party has chosen two candidates for its candidates. However, DMK could not announce its candidates as it did not receive a response from the Congress higher-ups to its proposal.

The DMK had earlier fixed Tuesday, March 3, 2026, as the deadline for the Congress leadership to return to the negotiating table after the AICC in-charge of Tamil Nadu Girish Chodankar rejected the DMK’s offer of 25 seats.

On Tuesday morning, March 3, 2026, Mr. Chidambaram agreed to play the role of peacemaker. During the meeting, the Prime Minister reportedly told Mr. Chidambaram that the issue could have been resolved much earlier if the Congress had appointed him as a mediator. He agreed to increase the number of seats to 27 “out of respect” for Mr Chidambaram.

According to sources, Mr. Stalin disclosed that the DMK has significantly strengthened its organization in the last five years and the welfare measures implemented by the State government have further strengthened its public support.

“If it reduces its seat share, DMK’s standing in the eyes of the public will go down,” he told Mr. Chidambaram.

The DMK is keen on winning as many seats as possible as it avoids a repeat of the 2006 situation when the party fell into minority in the Assembly and was dependent on the Congress and PMK for survival.

A Congress leader, while expressing concern over what he described as the “determination” of the party high command, wondered what prevented the DMK from allotting 30 Assembly seats to the Congress. He raised this question in the face of speculations that DMK might offer 10 seats in the Assembly to the newly joined DMDK; which was grossly disproportionate to his vote share of around 0.5%.