Waited For Long, Awaiting Talks, Says Congress After DMK Forms Alliance Panel In Tamil Nadu

Chennai, Feb 22: The Congress expressed its concern over the delay in the formation of an alliance committee by the ruling DMK in poll-bound Tamil Nadu, but said it was awaiting the discussions.

“We expected this to happen a long time ago… We are waiting for the discussions,” All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Tamil Nadu Girish Chodankar told Media personnel shortly after the DMK announced a panel headed by veteran TR Baalu to discuss seat-sharing with allies.

Elections for 234 assembly seats in Tamil Nadu are likely to be held in April 2026. Earlier, Chodankar, who heads a five-member Congress panel to discuss seat-sharing with DMK, had met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief MK Stalin on December 3, 2025 and had been flagging the delay over the announcement of a seat-sharing panel over the past few weeks.

“The DMK has responded to our demand after 80 days,” said an AICC functionary.

During the December 3 meeting, the Congress panel had placed its two key demands, more than 25 seats and a share in power at various levels, before Stalin, who noted he was okay with seat-sharing but not with power-sharing in the state.

The Congress insiders noted it was natural for the grand old party to have aspirations and pointed out that the DMK, which shared power at the Centre during the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, should be open to such an arrangement in the state.

Congress insiders further said they had not received any call from the DMK’s alliance panel but expected to join the consultations soon. The party insiders said talks will start with the smaller parties, and the Congress turn would come in a few days.

The Congress, which had been backing DMK for two decades without sharing power in the southern state, had started asserting itself over the past months, demanding a better deal in the 2026 assembly elections.

The Congress contested 25 seats in the 2021 elections and won 19. This time the party wants 35-40 seats, saying it had been preparing ground in around 125 seats over the past year.

“Our leaders have worked hard on the ground over the past months. We have taken steps to boost the organisation and have obtained feedback from the workers. They kept asking us about the alliance talks, but we had no answer. We not only want to share power in the state government but also at the panchayat and block level,” AICC secretary in charge of Tamil Nadu Suraj Hegde told Media.