The Congress has upped the ante in seat-sharing negotiations with the DMK and has demanded 90 seats for the Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu. Besides that, it has insisted on power-sharing, formation of a coordination committee and drawing up a common minimum programme for a five-year period, according to sources.
The DMK had put forward the formula that the Congress could initially take 48 seats like last time. Since the Left, which contested 23 seats in 2006, is no more with the DPA, these could be equally divided between the two after allotting nine seats to the Viduthalai Chiruthai Katchi (VCK). That effectively means 55 for the Congress.