Stalin–Venugopal Meeting Signals Start of Crucial DMK–Congress Seat-Sharing Talks

Chennai, Feb 2026 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M. K. Stalin on Sunday met senior Congress leader K. C. Venugopal, marking the informal beginning of seat-sharing negotiations between the two key partners of the ruling alliance ahead of the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. The meeting, held at the Chief Minister’s residence in Chennai, is being viewed as a significant political signal that alliance discussions have entered a decisive phase.

Venugopal, who serves as the All India Congress Committee’s General Secretary (Organisation), was accompanied by senior Congress leaders, including T. S. Singh Deo, who is also the chairman of the Tamil Nadu Congress screening committee. According to sources, the discussions were aimed at strengthening coordination between the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Congress before formal, committee-level negotiations on seat distribution commence.

While no official statement was issued after the meeting, political observers noted that such high-level interactions often set the tone for subsequent structured talks. Sources indicated that the meeting focused on aligning political strategy, improving alliance coordination, and preparing the ground for detailed seat-sharing negotiations within the framework of the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), led by the DMK in Tamil Nadu.

The timing of the meeting is particularly significant as the Congress is expected to seek a larger share of seats compared to the 2021 Assembly elections. In the last polls, the Congress contested 25 seats as part of the DMK-led alliance and emerged victorious in 18 constituencies, a performance that the party believes justifies a stronger claim this time. Sources said Venugopal is likely to press this point during negotiations and may also present a list of priority constituencies where the Congress wishes to contest.

Earlier in the day, the DMK formally initiated its seat-sharing consultations with alliance partners by holding preliminary discussions with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) at the party headquarters. A five-member IUML delegation led by party leader Kader Mohideen met the DMK’s seat-sharing panel, signalling that alliance-wide talks are now underway.

The Congress, a long-standing ally of the DMK, had constituted a five-member negotiation committee in November last year under the leadership of Girish Chodankar to engage with the DMK on seat-sharing. For nearly three months, the party had been urging the DMK to set up its own panel to formally begin talks. That demand was met recently when DMK General Secretary Duraimurugan announced a seven-member seat-sharing committee headed by party treasurer and former Union Minister T. R. Baalu, MP.

The DMK committee has already begun its work, starting with consultations with the IUML, and is expected to hold multiple rounds of discussions with Congress negotiators in the coming days. Sources suggest that these talks will focus not only on the number of seats but also on constituency-wise adjustments, campaign coordination, and broader electoral strategy.

Although the DMK had earlier indicated that formal alliance negotiations would begin from February 22, Sunday’s meeting between Stalin and Venugopal suggests that the process has now moved into a crucial, decision-making stage. The outcome of these discussions is expected to shape the final contours of the DMK-led alliance and play a decisive role in determining its electoral strategy and strength ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.