Chennai, Feb 23 (AHN) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M.K. Stalin met senior Congress leader K.C. Venugopal on Sunday ahead of formal seat-sharing talks between the two parties, signalling the start of crucial negotiations within the ruling alliance ahead of the Assembly elections.

The meeting took place at the Chief Minister’s residence in Chennai and comes at a time when discussions over seat allocation and alliance coordination are expected to intensify.

Venugopal, the All India Congress Committee (Organisation) general secretary, was accompanied by senior Congress leaders, including Tamil Nadu Congress screening committee chairman T.S. Singh Deo, sources said.

Sources indicated that the meeting was aimed at strengthening coordination between the alliance partners before structured negotiations on seat distribution begin.

Formal seat-sharing discussions between the two parties are expected to be conducted by designated committees appointed by both the DMK and the Congress.

The meeting assumes significance as the Congress is expected to seek a larger share of seats compared to the previous Assembly elections, when it contested as part of the DMK-led alliance.

Sources said discussions also covered broader alliance-related issues, including political coordination and electoral preparedness.

Earlier in the day, the DMK initiated seat-sharing talks with alliance partners by holding preliminary discussions with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) at the party headquarters.

The ongoing consultations are expected to play a key role in shaping the alliance structure and seat distribution for the upcoming elections in Tamil Nadu.

The meeting is expected to focus primarily on seat-sharing arrangements between the DMK and the Congress as part of the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), which is led by the DMK in the state.

The Congress, a key ally of the DMK, had constituted a five-member committee in November last year under the leadership of Girish Chodankar to negotiate seat-sharing terms with its alliance partner.

For nearly three months, the party had been urging the DMK to formally constitute its own negotiation panel to initiate discussions.

Responding to these developments, DMK general secretary Duraimurugan recently announced a seven-member seat-sharing committee headed by party treasurer and former Union Minister T.R. Baalu, MP, to hold discussions with alliance partners.

The committee has already initiated talks, beginning with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). A five-member IUML delegation led by its leader Kader Mohideen met the DMK panel earlier on Sunday for preliminary discussions on seat-sharing.

Sources indicated that during the meeting with Stalin, the Congress is expected to press for a larger share of seats than it was allotted in the 2021 Assembly elections. In that election, the Congress had contested 25 seats as part of the DMK-led alliance and secured victory in 18 constituencies.

Sources further said that Venugopal is likely to present a list of priority constituencies to Stalin as part of the ongoing negotiations.

Following the meeting, further rounds of discussions are expected to take place between the DMK's seat-sharing committee and the Congress negotiation panel to finalise the arrangement.

Although the DMK had earlier indicated that formal alliance talks would begin from February 22, Sunday’s meeting suggests that negotiations have now entered a crucial phase.

The outcome of these discussions is expected to play a key role in shaping the final contours of the DMK-led alliance ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.