CM MK Stalin and Rahul Gandhi (R) (File photo)

NEW DELHI: Congress MP Manickam Tagore on Saturday pushed his party’s demand for a larger share of seats in its alliance with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, led by chief minister MK Stalin, ahead of the Tamil Nadu assembly elections. He said the Congress was seeking constituencies that the DMK had lost in the 2021 polls and emphasised that “power-sharing was essential” in state’s governance. However, days earlier, Stalin ruled out the possibility of sharing power with allies.Tagore’s remarks came in response to comments made by DMK leader and state minister RS Raja Kannappan in Madurai on February 13, where he asserted that the DMK would contest 170 constituencies and win 160 seats in the upcoming election.Reacting to the statement, Tagore, the MP from Virudhunagar, said in a post on X: “In 2021, you contested in 173 seats and secured 133. What we are asking (now) are the seats which you failed to win.”He further underlined the Congress’s position on governance, saying, “Power sharing is necessary. The share in power is our right. The people will decide,” while sharing a video clip of Raja Kannappan’s speech.In the video, Raja Kannappan ruled out the possibility of a coalition government, expressing confidence that the DMK would independently secure 160 seats.The Tamil Nadu Assembly has 234 seats, and the DMK-Congress alliance had won 151 seats in the 2021 elections.Days earlier, CM Stalin strongly ruled out sharing power with allies, while maintaining that the alliance with the Congress remained “intact” and free of confusion. “We also know that it will not work in Tamil Nadu; they (Congress) know it too. It is a problem created by some people. They are deliberately conspiring to see if there will be a rift in the alliance. We are not worried about it. Rahul Gandhi is not worried either,” Stalin said.Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K Selvaperunthagai announced in Chennai that formal alliance talks between the Congress and the DMK would begin on February 22. He asserted that the INDIA bloc remained united despite attempts by the Bharatiya Janata Party to weaken the alliance.“The election process is going very, very smoothly. Negotiations are ongoing, and we are going to start on February 22. Nothing the BJP is thinking will happen. The BJP wants to pull someone out of the INDIA alliance to split the vote bank, but it will not happen. We are intact with the alliance,” Selvaperunthagai told reporters.Responding to remarks by actor-politician Vijay, who recently said “SOP” in Tamil Nadu stood for “Stalin Operating Procedure,” Selvaperunthagai said such procedures were common across all political parties.