The Vijayakant blow has hit the DMK in more ways than one – the other alliance partners, like the Congress, have begun pressuring the Dravidian party for more number of seats.

Congress sources indicated that they would now settle for nothing less than 60 seats. Emboldened by the DMDK decision to go it alone, which has considerably dashed DMK’s hopes as well as chances in the May 16 assembly polls, the Congress that has got weakened itself after GK Vasan’s exit does not think twice before stepping up the ante.

The Congress that had left the seat adjustment to the DMK as the DMDK was expected to join the front, has not sensed its chances as no other major formation is looking at the DMK anymore. As the Left and Vaiko have formed an alliance of their own and the BJP is almost tied up with PMK of Ramadoss.

“We will definitely demand more than 60 seats from DMK since Vijayakanth ruled out his party’s alliance with us”, a senior Congress leader said on Sunday.

“There no major political party that is expected to join DMK-Congress coalition and therefore, allocating more seats will not be a problem for DMK,” the Congress leader said.

But incidentally, situation on the ground has all indications of a brewing alliance trouble for the Congress DMK as a high profile youth Congress leader Jyotimani has been campaigning in Karur, despite no seat adjustment being done and the seat allocated to the Congress. The local DMK leaders are upset over her campaign and have complained to the DMK high command.

Similar tussles could plague the alliance, which has lost the momentum, despite the bravado and confidence their leaders may exhibit, political analysts said.

The Congress and the DMK brushed aside their acrimony of the past and tied up last month to form a grand alliance to beat the AIADMK. The DMK was forced to part with 63 seats by the Congress in the 2011 polls in which the Congress could win only 5 seats. The DMK ended up with a mere 23 seats, behind the DMDK with 29.

In 2014 Lok Sabha elections Congress and DMK fought separately and the DMK drew a blank and the Congress forfeited its deposits in all but one of the Lok Sabha constituencies.