The Congress and the DMK are likely to finalise their seat sharing for the Assembly polls when senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad comes down to Chennai on Friday.
Congress sources said the party wants “at least” 40 seats given that the DMK does not have any major parties in its alliance. This is the demand likely to be put forward when Mr. Azad meets DMK president M. Karunanidhi on Friday.
“We are sure the DMK wants to bring the figure further down citing the emergence of the Tamil Manila Congress. But since the DMDK has not joined the front, they do have more seats to give,” said a senior Congress leader.
The rationale behind the number 40 is that the Congress wants at least two seats in Chennai and one in every other Parliamentary constituency.
Each Lok Sabha seat consists of six Assembly segments.
“This way, we would be spread out across Tamil Nadu and would help us build the party again,” said the leader.
Meanwhile, former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram held meetings with senior TNCC leaders K.V. Thangkabalu, M. Krishnaswamy and Su. Thirunavukkarasar at his residence here.