TN Congress leaders head to Delhi for meeting with Rahul, Kharge

Chennai: Senior Tamil Nadu Congress leaders, including former and sitting MPs and MLAs, are set to travel to New Delhi on Saturday for a meeting convened by party leader Rahul Gandhi to discuss alliance strategy ahead of the 2026 Assembly election. AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge will also be present at the meeting planned to discuss the party's assembly election strategy for TN.The meeting comes at a time when TN Congress functionaries are putting forth different viewpoints on the party's electoral tie up with DMK. While one section is comfortable with the continuation of the existing alliance arrangement, another section has been pitching for a power sharing arrangement with DMK. The camp that has been batting for a power sharing arrangement has also been nudging for an alliance with actor Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazagham (TVK), hoping that the actor - politician's fan base would help them in Kerala, which too goes to polls this year. While most leaders are expected to voice their support for continuation in the DMK alliance during the Saturday meeting, a small group critical of DMK and leaning towards TVK are likely to place their demand for a power-sharing arrangement as a precondition for DMK alliance. DMK leaders have rejected the demand. DMK remains firm it will not accept the Congress power-sharing demand. "There is no compromise at any cost. Except for Manickam Tagore, Rajesh Kumar and Praveen Chakravarty, everyone will favour us (DMK)," said a highly placed DMK source. Nevertheless, Congress leaders say the subject would be brought up during formal alliance talks DMK as the present arrangement of remaining in alliance without sharing power does not help Congress grow in TN. "When something goes wrong then we are unable to criticise DMK as we are allies. This situation does not benefit Congress," a TN Congress leader said. Setting the tone for meeting, COngress M P Manickam Tagore on Friday said in an X post that Congress was never after `lucrative' portfolios wherever the party had shared power with allies. Instead, we would only seek ministries that offer scope for serving people better, he said. Senior Congress leaders, however, downplayed the Saturday meeting. Congress general secretary in-charge (organisation) KC Venugopal simply said, "We are doing all state level meetings. Nothing else." Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President K Selvaperunthagai rejected speculation about parallel talks with TVK and said, "In the meeting, we will discuss election preparedness and finalise our plans." Congress in charge for TN, Girsh Chodankar told TOI that Saturday's meeting will see a discussion on preparations and exchange of ideas. On the issue of powersharing, he said such matters will be discussed at the alliance committee meeting which is yet to be scheduled. Meanwhile, AICC general secretary Sachin Pilot backed the demand from a section of Congress leaders for power sharing. "Every political party wants representation. I think there is nothing wrong in the Congress cadre asking for measures so that they can help the people of Tamil Nadu,'' he told reporters in Chennai when asked about the demand for coalition govt.He however appreciated the DMk govt. ``Whatever happens in the future, the BJP and NDA will never find a foothold in Tamil Nadu politics. I think the (state) govt did a good job," he said.