Congress happy with TN seats

The Congress has finally learnt which 63 seats it will contest in Tamil Nadu and it has proved a mixed bag, ending the fractious seat-sharing process that almost broke its alliance with the DMK.

State Congress president K.V. Thangkabalu told reporters he was happy about the choice of seats as the DMK had met most of "our requirements".

Asked if the Congress might seek a share in power after the elections if the alliance wins, Thangkabalu replied: "After the results, Sonia Gandhi and Karunanidhi will give the good news which will make Congress cadres happy."

Although he refused to elaborate any further, Congress functionaries are confident that power-sharing will become a necessity since the DMK is contesting only 121 seats, just three more than the majority mark in the 234-member House.

When the DMK recently threatened to pull out of the UPA government at the Centre, it had cited as its reasons the Congress demand for 63 seats and its insistence on being allowed to choose the constituencies. The Congress got the DMK to pipe down but let it choose some of the seats.

By contesting 63 seats, the Congress hopes to increase its tally from 34 to 45-plus and become a key component of any government-forming equation.

A hung Assembly will suit it well enough, since there will only be two days between the results and the end of the present Assembly's term along with that of the DMK government.

"If there is no clear winner, Delh [...]