No bitterness in seat-sharing talks between Congress and DMK: Selvaperunthagai

TNCC president discusses smooth seat-sharing talks with DMK for Lok Sabha polls, denies party member switching rumors.

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K. Selvaperunthagai, on Thursday, March 7 2024, made it clear that ongoing seat-sharing talks with the DMK for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, were proceeding smoothly, and there were no bitter feelings between the two parties.

Addressing journalists at the TNCC headquarters, Satyamurthi Bhavan in Chennai, Mr. Selvaperunthagai wondered why the media was in a hurry [to speculate upon the seat-sharing] when the DMK had not yet completed talks with regional parties in the State. “The date for the elections has not yet been announced. A decision on seat-sharing will be finalised in a few days,” he said. 

Asked about the report about a young Congress MP being in touch with the AIADMK and could possibly switch over to that party, he said there was no basis for this speculation. “We are all in touch with one another and there is no indication about such a move,” he said.

When his attention was drawn to the switching over of former Congress MLA S. Vijayadharini to the BJP though the party had maintained until the last moment that she would remain a Congress member, Mr. Selvaperunthagai said he had expressed the views based on mutual trust. “No party could have honoured her the way the Congress did. She was a three-time MLA and held the post of party whip in the Assembly,” he said.

Mr Selvaperunthagai, who released the party’s media and communication wing’s visual presentation exposing the “failure” of the BJP government to fulfil its promises and its alleged helping of corporate houses, also said “Let the Prime Minister who frequently visits Tamil Nadu deny our allegations.”

Alleging that the BJP had received funds from countries such as China and North Korea that posed a constant threat to the security of India, he said the BJP government should come out with a white paper on the party’s funds and electoral bonds. “Why is Prime Minister Modi afraid of releasing a white paper on the issue even after the Supreme Court has declared electoral bonds illegal? He desires to run the country like Pakistan where democracy is always in the grip of uncertainty,” he charged.

The Congress leader also alleged that the BJP government was controlling every single government organisation including the CBI, Income Tax department and Enforcement Directorate to settle scores with its political enemies and to threaten corporate houses to get funds.