Chennai, March 21 (IANS). As uncertainty persists over seat sharing in the DMK-led alliance for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Saturday called emergency meetings of its state committee and state executive committee.
CPI(M) has called the meeting after the election schedule was announced by the Election Commission. Due to which the talks between the coalition partners have intensified.
Most of the parties in the DMK alliance have either finalized or are close to finalizing their seat-sharing agreement, while talks with CPI(M) are yet to reach any consensus, adding to the confusion over the alliance.
According to party sources, the CPI(M) leadership has held three rounds of talks with the DMK so far. In the first two rounds, the Marxist party demanded six more seats than the six it would contest in the 2021 assembly elections. The party leadership argued that its organizational strength and electoral contribution deserved more seats this time.
However, in the third round of talks, the CPI(M) has softened its stand a bit and asked for at least the same number of seats as it was given in the last election. Despite this, the DMK leadership has proposed to give only five seats to the party, citing the inclusion of new allies in the alliance and the need to accommodate them in the limited number of seats.
CPI(M) has rejected this proposal and said that reduction in seats will not be accepted. The issue became even more important after the DMK successfully concluded a separate seat-sharing deal with the Communist Party of India (CPI), giving it five seats, one less than it had got in the previous assembly elections.
With the talks reaching a crucial stage, the emergency meetings of the CPI(M) are expected to deliberate on the party’s next strategy, including continuing talks under the existing terms or pressing for a revised agreement. Party insiders say the leadership may also assess the political implications of accepting fewer seats.
–IANS
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