April 9, 2016
Neither the DMK, nor the Congress party is happy with the seat allocation that was announced by the alliance a few days ago, with disgruntled members from both the parties threatening to walk out and contest the elections as independent candidates.
In addition to disappointment over the numbers of seats allocated, members of the parties are also upset over the distribution of constituencies. One such instance is the case of senior Congress leader Jothimani Sennimalai, who was keen on Aravakkurichi seat. She had started her campaigns a few months ago. But, the constituency was instead given to the DMK.
The Congress tried to pacify her by asking her to contest from Karur. The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president E.V.K.S Elangovan advised her to drop her demand and help the DMK candidate win from the constituency, but Jothimani had flatly refused to budge and has declared that she intends to contest from Aravakkurichi as an independent candidate.
The DMK too has quite a few stories of a similar kind. Party members are upset over giving away Cheyyar to Congress. DMK cadres claim that Cheyyar is the party bastion and wonder why the leaders gave it away to the Congress. They are also bitter over giving Kalasapakkam away to their ally.
Members of both the Congress and the DMK hit the streets across Tamil Nadu, protesting over the seat allocation.