There can be no dip in LS seat allotted for TN Congress in INDIA bloc: Karti Chidambaram

Chennai: The Congress in Tamil Nadu, as part of the INDIA bloc, should get the same number of seats to contest in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as it did in 2019, party MP Karti Chidambaram said here on Saturday.

He said this view has been conveyed to Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Former party chief Sonia and General Secretary Priyanka arrived here on Friday to take part in the DMK's women's rights conference today. Speaking to reporters here after taking part in a consultative meeting chaired by Sonia, Karti said the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee leaders had a transparent discussion with her and Priyanka on the action plan for the future, the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and the strengthening of the party.

He said the party deliberated on the INDIA bloc's strength vis-à-vis the Parliamentary election and added, "We have assured that we will win all the constituencies (the 39 segments in Tamil Nadu)," he said. It was stressed in the meeting that there should be no reduction in the number of seats allotted to the Congress in the INDIA bloc in Tamil Nadu for the 2024 LS polls compared to what was set apart for the party in the 2019 general election.

Though there is no "compulsion" that the party should contest from the same constituencies, there should however, be no cut in the total number of seats, Karti insisted. In the 2019 LS polls, the Congress contested 10 seats -- nine in Tamil Nadu and the lone segment in Puducherry -- as part of the then Secular Progressive Alliance led by the DMK.

The TN Congress Committee expressing its view about the number of seats it should get comes against the backdrop of claims on social media that the DMK may contest in more seats in the state than in 2019 to enable it to play a key role in the formation of the next government at the Centre. Asked what was discussed at the meeting, Karti said it cannot be disclosed as the session was a closed-door one. Strengthening the party itself is an intra-party subject, he added. Congress MP Manickam Tagore said Sonia Gandhi advised the party leaders to work in tandem towards the goal of winning all 39 LS seats in the state for the alliance.

Congress legislator S Vijayadharani said the meeting discussed the general election scenario in the state and added that Sonia Gandhi reviewed initiatives aimed at party's growth. AICC secretary and in-charge for Tamil Nadu Sirivella Prasad, TN Congress Committee President K S Alagiri and Congress legislature party leader K Selvaperunthagai were present at the meeting held at a hotel here that lasted about an hour.