The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Congress on Sunday held their first round of talks for seat sharing in Tamil Nadu for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The discussions were held at the DMK headquarters in Chennai and was attended by a five-member team of the Congress and seven-member panel of the DMK.

The Congress team comprised senior national leaders Mukul Wasnik, Salman Khurshid and Ajoy Kumar, and Tamil Nadu Congress Committee chief K S Alagiri and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader K Selva Perunthagai.

The DMK panel was led by parliamentary party leader T R Baalu and comprised MPs Tiruchi N Siva and A Raja, former state higher education minister K Ponmudy and state ministers K N Nehru, I Periyasamy, and M R K Panneerselvam.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Wasnik said: “We had a long discussion and discussed how all of us can move together to once again gain the confidence of the people of Tamil Nadu and unseat the dispensation at the Centre, which has posed a serious challenge to the Constitution of India and our democratic polity, and bring back those forces which will take the nation strongly on the path of democracy.”

READ | Tamil Nadu: Seat-sharing talks set to begin between Congress and DMK

The Congress leader said the two parties also discussed seat-sharing in Puducherry and will “soon have another meeting”.

Baalu, who also spoke to the media, said: “Preliminary discussion is over. We will have another round of talks.”

The meeting between the two parties was held at a time when the Congress has come under attack from its partners in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) over a delay in seat-sharing pacts and other decisions. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has said that more than 200 days have passed without any deal, and has declared its intention of going solo in West Bengal. The Samajwadi Party has also criticised the Congress on this count and indicated that it is not willing to give more than 13 Lok Sabha seats to the latter in Uttar Pradesh.

The discussions also came at a time when the Janata Dal (United) called off its alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress and other smaller parties in Bihar and quit the INDIA bloc to rejoin the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.

The Congress is the DMK’s principal ally in the Secular Progressive Alliance in Tamil Nadu.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu, the Congress contested nine out of a total of 39 parliamentary seats, besides the lone seat in Puducherry. It won eight seats in the polls in Tamil Nadu.

The DMK contested 20 seats and won all of them that year.

In the 2021 assembly elections, the DMK contested 188 out of 234 seats and won 133. The Congress was given 25 seats; it won 18 seats.

A state Congress leader, who did not wish to be named, said the party expects to get more seats in this year’s Lok Sabha polls. “We had to settle with 25 seats in the last (assembly) elections but since it was a state election, the DMK thought it fit to contest in maximum seats.”

A DMK leader, who also did not wish to be identified, said: “There are a lot of parties to accommodate. We hope to finish the negotiations soon”, referring to the CPI (M), CPI, VCK, and MDMK.

Meanwhile, on Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s exit from the INDIA bloc, Wasnik said: “The INDIA alliance will emerge stronger. Whatever situation we see today, will pass… Few parties who do not have the courage or the strength to face the divisive forces may buckle down and get out of the alliance but people are not leaving our alliance.”

“Nitish Kumar had an issue from the beginning. I’m not sure if he was interested to be in this (INDIA alliance) but it will not affect us,” Baalu said.