Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) president C Joseph Vijay on Wednesday allotted the only Rajya Sabha seat from the state which was felt vacant after AIADMK leader C Ve Shanmugam resigned from the Upper House after being elected to the Legislative Assembly last month.
“As the Rajya Sabha elections are scheduled to be held in Tamil Nadu on the 18th of this month, the All India Congress Party, which is part of the TVK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu, has been allotted a seat,” Vijay said in a statement.
Shanmugam resigned from the seat after winning from Milam Assembly constituency in the April 23 assembly elections.
TVK’s decision came in the backdrop of Congress state in-charge Girish Chodankar’s meeting with Vijay in his office. After the meeting, Chodankar told reporters that the Congress had sought the seat from Tamil Nadu to strengthen its presence in the Rajya Sabha.
“Today we met the Prime Minister. We have accepted our proposal for the next Rajya Sabha seat and it should be allocated to us. We have requested this from the TVK president and the Prime Minister,” Chodankar said. “The Prime Minister told us that they are in big discussion but he assured me that TVK is seriously considering allocating the seat to the Congress. We requested this seat. Because we want to have better power in Rajya Sabha and that is why we admired the Prime Minister. “
The Congress, a key ally of the state’s largest party, TVK, is expected to win the Rajya Sabha seat comfortably in the June 18 elections.
