Congress will lead the alliance for Assembly polls in Puducherry: AICC in-charge Girish Chodankar

Congress will lead the alliance for the Puducherry Assembly polls, with seat-sharing talks underway with DMK and other partners.

All India Congress Committee in-charge for Puducherry Girish Chodankar on Friday said the Congress would lead the alliance in the Union Territory for the upcoming Assembly polls.

Interacting with reporters after holding deliberations with senior leaders of the Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee, Mr. Chodankar said the party would adopt the “time-tested” formula of heading the alliance in Puducherry and leaving the leadership role to the DMK for the polls in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

“We will follow the conventional time-tested formula. In Tamil Nadu, the DMK will lead the alliance whereas in Puducherry, we will head the alliance for the polls. We will give them [alliance partners] the seats,” he added.

When his attention was drawn to recent statements of some DMK leaders suggesting that they were natural claimants for leading the alliance because of the party’s current status of being the Principal Opposition in the Union Territory, Mr. Chodankar said, “We will only go by the formula adopted in the previous elections and based on that, we are going to lead the alliance. We will give them the seats depending on that.” 

He said a seven-member negotiation committee headed by PCC chief and MP V. Vaithilingam has been constituted to hold seat sharing talks with the DMK, Left parties and the VCK. “We have already communicated to the DMK leadership about our team. We have asked them to depute a team for talks,” he added.

Asked whether negotiations will be held in Chennai or in Puducherry, he said, “Puducherry is a separate territory. So, the seat sharing talks for the Assembly polls in the Union Territory will be held in Puducherry.”