Can't sit next to Congress in Lok Sabha anymore, DMK tells Speaker

NEW DELHI: The upheaval brought in Tamil Nadu by Congress' decision to break ranks with DMK and align with actor Vijay's TVK is set to effect division in opposition ranks in Parliament, with the Dravidian party seeking a change of seating arrangement for its MPs, many of whom sat alongside members of the main opposition party, Congress.

Kanimozhi, who is the head of the DMK parliamentary party, has written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for allotting separate seating to her party's MPs, saying it will enable them to effectively discharge their responsibilities in the House.





The DMK decision has raised the question of if the party is also leaving the INDIA bloc. The seating plan in LS was jointly negotiated by the bloc after the 2024 LS elections, barring TMC, which had bargained its seats separately with the Speaker's office.

"In view of the changed political circumstances, and as our alliance with Congress has come to an end, it may not be appropriate for our members to continue occupying the present seating arrangement alongside them in the House," the LS member said.

Currently, many of DMK's 22 MPs occupy positions in rows with Congress members, with their leader in the House, T R Baalu, being given a front row seat close to leader of the opposition Rahul Gandhi.

DMK has the fifth largest contingent of MPs in LS and has been a solid Congress ally in Parliament. Its MPs were often part of protests with Congress over a host of issues in targeting govt.

In a sign of flux in opposition politics following the recent assembly polls, another key opposition party, the 28-member TMC, which often maintained distance from Congress inside Parliament, has now resolved to strengthen the INDIA bloc following its drubbing in Bengal by BJP.

When Parliament meets, likely in the second half of July, the changed dynamics and evolving equations are bound to come into play. BJP will keenly watch the stand of Stalin's DMK, which has been its ally in the past, on key issues, as it will look to exploit the opposition's fault lines to make a fresh push in TN, where its alliance with AIADMK was pushed to third spot.