Puducherry [India], March 6 (ANI): The Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) on Friday formed a seven-member committee to hold formal discussions with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) regarding alliance matters and also to deliberate on seat-sharing arrangements for the upcoming elections.

The decision was taken during a meeting of the Political Executive Committee (PEC) of the PPCC held at the party office in Puducherry.

The committee was constituted under the leadership of MP and PCC President Ve Vaithilingam and includes former Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, CLP Leader M Vaithiyanathan, senior vice president and AICC coordinator PK Devadoss, former ministers M Kandasamy, MOHF Shahjahan, and former government Whip and PCC vice president RKR Anantharaman.

Girish Chodankar, AICC in-charge for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, issued a letter on the committee's formation.

The group is tasked with conducting talks with the DMK to finalise alliance strategies and seat-sharing for the forthcoming elections.

Meanwhile, on the alliance strategy, Girish Chodankar said the Congress and DMK will contest the elections jointly with other parties. He noted that a seven-member committee will finalise discussions with alliance partners, adding that the DMK leads in Tamil Nadu while Congress leads in Puducherry. After the results, the elected MLAs will convene to decide the Chief Minister. 'We, the Congress and the DMK, will contest these elections together with other parties. We have formed a seven-member negotiation committee. This seven-member team will conduct all the negotiations and finalise all the talks with the DMK and other alliance partners. The DMK leads the alliance in Tamil Nadu, while the Congress leads the alliance in Puducherry. We are confident that the people will give our alliance a victory. The understanding is that the same formula followed in Tamil Nadu will be followed in Puducherry as well. After the election results, our elected MLAs will sit together, and our CM will be decided in that meeting,' he said.

This year, the Union Territory will hold elections for all 30 constituencies of the 16th Puducherry Legislative Assembly. While the Congress is fighting the polls in an alliance with DMK and CPI, the opposition consisted of All India NR Congress, BJP and AIADMK.

In 2021, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won a simple majority in the elections, and N Rangaswamy of the All India NR Congress was sworn in as the Chief Minister for the fourth time during that time. (ANI)