What transpired at Stalin-KC Venugopal meeting: Power-sharing demand off the table for now, Congress pushes for RS berth for Pawan Khera

For weeks, a section of Tamil Nadu Congress leaders had publicly demanded power sharing in a future DMK-led government, even passing resolutions to that effect.

The request for a Rajya Sabha seat comes as nomination dates draw near, prompting urgency from the Congress side. Yet notably, the contentious question of power sharing in the state Cabinet – publicly rejected by Stalin – was not even presented in Sunday’s crucial meeting. Nor were precise Assembly seat numbers settled, sources said, with those details left for the next round of talks.

This recalibration is politically significant. In recent weeks, two Congress leaders, Virudhunagar MP Manickam Tagore and All India Professionals’ Congress chairperson Praveen Chakravarthy, had sharpened their rhetoric, demanding not just more Assembly seats but a share in government.

Stalin, in response, had ruled out power sharing categorically. The Sunday meeting suggests that the Congress high command, at least in its formal engagement with the DMK, is adopting a more measured approach.

Sources in the Congress confirmed that while power sharing was not framed narrowly as Cabinet positions, broader concerns were conveyed. “It was the first round of discussions and we have conveyed our concerns and the issues raised by our workers across the state. We are waiting for their response,” said a Congress leader familiar with the developments.

Another Congress source clarified that the demand goes beyond ministerial portfolios. “When we talk about power sharing, it’s not just in the state government. The party has taken up power sharing in committees as well as other bodies at the ground levels also. Congress workers across the state participate in the governance process,” the source said. The Congress also raised seat-sharing for local body elections next year, an arena seen as crucial for rebuilding grassroots strength.

Venugopal was accompanied by TNCC president K Selvaperunthagai and AICC in-charge Girish Chodankar. However, sources said that the core discussion was primarily between Venugopal and Stalin. The Congress delegation handed over a sealed envelope from Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, adding an element of high-command gravity to the meeting.

The meeting in context

The backdrop of the meeting is delicate. The DMK had originally invited the Congress seat-sharing committee for talks later in the week. Venugopal’s decision to fly in earlier was read by many as an attempt to reset the tone amid public sparring between leaders of the two parties. DMK sources said the party remains firm on its position against formal power sharing. At the same time, it is prepared to increase the Congress’s Assembly seat allocation modestly, possibly to 27 or 28 seats, up from 25 in 2021, even as the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance expands, with Premalatha Vijayakanth’s DMDK being the latest entrant into the coalition.

Sunday’s meeting happened in the wake of a public tussle after a small section of Congress leaders, known for their proximity to Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Venugopal, had publicly framed the issue of power sharing as one of dignity and Cabinet representation. Sunday’s tone – focusing instead on Rajya Sabha representation and decentralised participation in governance – solves a crisis and risks embarrassing those who escalated the rhetoric.

In January, The Indian Express reported that about 40 Congress leaders from Tamil Nadu had met the party high command in Delhi, urging the leadership not to break the DMK alliance while seeking more seats and greater representation in local bodies, cooperative institutions and other forums. The focus of discussions and demands there were on respect and ground-level empowerment, not a dramatic rupture. Sunday’s meeting appears to echo that logic.