Congress top brass discusses poll strategy with TN leaders

New Delhi, Jan 17 (PTI) The Congress' top brass met senior party leaders from Tamil Nadu on Saturday to chalk out a strategy for the upcoming Assembly polls and deliberate on the cadres' demand for a power-sharing understanding with the DMK.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge chaired the meeting that was attended by former party chief Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretary in-charge organisation K C Venugopal, Tamil Nadu Congress chief K Selvaperunthagai, MPs P Chidambaram, Manickam Tagore, Karti Chidambaram, Jyothimani, V Vasanth, and Professionals' Congress chief Praveen Chakravarty, among others.

The meeting at the party's Indira Bhawan headquarters here comes amid calls from Tamil Nadu Congress for a share in power if the DMK-led alliance wins the Assembly election due by March-April this year.

Congress MP Manickam Tagore had said recently that it was time to debate "share in power." CLP leader and Killiyoor (Kanyakumari district) legislator S Rajeshkumar had also batted for a coalition government.

Congress party in-charge for Tamil Nadu, Girish Chodankar had asked if any political party, "will say that they don't want the power; then we should name ourselves as NGO." However, ruling out the scope for a coalition government, senior DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Minister I Periyasamy had asserted this week that Chief Minister M K Stalin is firm on the stand against sharing power with allies.

The meeting comes amid speculation that the Congress could also consider an alliance with newly formed actor-turned-politician Vijay's TVK, but state unit leaders have denied such a possibility.

Since 1967, both the DMK and the AIADMK had formed their own governments despite fighting polls in alliance with other parties. Following independence, when the first general election was held in the then composite Madras state in 1952, the Congress party failed to secure an absolute majority.

It was the only during the First Assembly's term (1952-57) that non-Congress leaders (including Manickavelu Naicker of the Commonweal Party) were accommodated in the Congress-led state Cabinet.

In 2006, though the DMK did not have an absolute majority, it ran the government for full five years (2006-11) with support from allies, including the Congress and without sharing power with allies. Without any success, the TN Congress leaders had made the same "share power with us" demand during the DMK's 2006-11 term too.

Senior Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Friday had defended the party's demand for a share in power in Tamil Nadu, saying every political party aspires to have a role in governance. PTI ASK MNK MNK