29 Mar :The Congress and DMK last night clinched a seat-sharing deal for the Lok Sabha polls under which the former will contest 16 seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Announcing the accord signed by him and TNCC president K V Thangabalu in the presence of AICC general secretary Gulam Nabi Azad, DMK chief M Karunanidhi told reporters that his party would contest 21 Lok Sabha seats, leaving two to Viduthalai Chiruthagal Katchi (VCK) and one to IUML.
He said the constituencies to be contested by the parties would be announced later.
The Congress, which contested 10 Lok Sabha seats in the last elections, received six more seats, while DMK, which contested in 15 constituencies, would field nominees in six more seats this time. Azad said he was satisfied with the allocation of 16 seats.
"The alliance between DMK and Congress was the best and would win all 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry," he said.He expressed the hope that people would vote for the UPA in all the 40 constituencies in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry as the UPA government had implemented several development and welfare schemes at the state and national level.
Karunanidhi said the DMK would come out with its candidate list when it was ready.
