Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K. Selvaperunthagai on Saturday urged alliance partners to understand the Congress party’s “pain” over the number of Assembly seats allotted to it.
Speaking to reporters in Chennai, he was asked about remarks by CPI(M) state secretary P. Shanmugam that Congress had been given additional seats. Selvaperunthagai said Congress, a national party, had earlier contested 63 seats, which later came down to 41 and now to 25.
He said the party leadership had sought 41 seats, but accepted the reduced number in the larger interest of “protecting the soil” and safeguarding the people of Tamil Nadu. He added that Congress had received three seats more than what was initially offered and had accepted them.
Selvaperunthagai appealed to ally parties to demand their rights without turning Congress into the focus of disputes. He also said the alliance was essential and that there was no alternative coalition to protect the state and the country, calling it a “compulsion of the times.”
