Chennai, February 18: DMK has agreed to give seven Lok Sabha seats to Congress instead of 16 seats, which the grand-old party had demanded. The Congress had contested on nine seats in the 2019 general elections by being an alliance partner in the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) led by the DMK. The party had won eight seats while losing the Theni Lok Sabha seat where O.P. Raveendranathan of AIADMK won the seat by defeating senior Congress leader E.V.K.S. Elangovan. Lok Sabha Elections 2024: PM Narendra Modi’s Poll Mantra to BJP Leaders: Next 100 Days Crucial, Win Every One’s Trust To Secure 400 Seats (Watch Video)

Sources said that the Congress’ list of candidates was too large and the DMK team led by T.R. Baalu conveyed to the Congress leadership that it can only consider giving no more than seven seats. Earlier, DMK District Secretaries had conveyed to the party leadership that the Congress must be restricted to a smaller number of seats as it has limited strength on the ground. Arvind Kejriwal Says AAP, Congress Mutually Decided To Go Solo in Punjab for 2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Sources said that the Congress state leadership is expecting that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will intervene and ask the DMK Chief to give the party a few more seats. A senior DMK leader told IANS that the strength of the Congress is minuscule in almost all the constituencies and that even the seven seats they got is more than sufficient.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 18, 2024 05:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).