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2 min readNew DelhiFeb 18, 2026 04:05 AM IST
AMID TENSION between the Congress and DMK over the alliance for the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, senior Congress leader K C Venugopal on Tuesday said that the grand old party was waiting for a “clear cut coalition discussion” and that opinions expressed by his party leaders from the state were “individual” in nature.
This follows remarks by some Congress leaders who have been insisting that the party “wants not just seat sharing but power sharing” in the state.
The Congress-DMK pot was first stirred on December 28, with Congress data analytics head Praveen Chakravarty describing Tamil Nadu’s debt position as “alarming”, citing its absolute outstanding liabilities, rising interest burden, and debt-to-GSDP ratio. Then Congress MP from the state Manickam Tagore said that the Congress and DMK alliance should have power sharing, and not just seat sharing as no party, “including the DMK, was poised to get a single majority”.
Clearing the air, Congress general secretary (organisation) Venugopal said the two parties were “in the process of discussions”. “We have a political party. Our party’s people also have political ambitions. There needs to be a clear-cut coalition discussion. We are waiting for that discussion. Other parties – DMK – will inform us when is the discussion going to start,” he said.
In a reference to Tagore and others who have made similar remarks, he said: “As far as different voices in the Congress party, I would like to categorically say that is not the party stand at all. That may be the individual stand… Final decision will be taken the alliance by the high command – Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge. We are waiting for alliance discussions.”
Without coming on record, DMK leaders on Tuesday said that power sharing with the Congress was out of the question. “If the Congress wants to quit the alliance, they can,” said a DMK MP.
Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express. During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state. During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute. Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor. Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. ... Read More
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