DMK gives seat to party led by ex-IAS officer

DMK today allotted one assembly constituency seat to an outfit fighting for Dalit causes led by former Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer P Sivakami.
According to the electoral understanding signed by DMK chief Karunanidhi and Sivakami, founder-president of the outfit -- Samuga Samathuva Padai (SSP), the latter will contest with the rising sun symbol of the Dravidian party.
"It has been decided after consultations that SSP will contest in the rising sun symbol of DMK as an electoral ally in the May 16 Assembly election," the pact between the parties read.
A Dalit bureaucrat and a novelist, Sivakami founded SSP in 2009 after voluntarily quitting the IAS the previous year. She joined the IAS in 1980 in the Tamil Nadu cadre.

DMK has already allotted five seats each to IUML and MMK and has begun seat sharing talks with Congress.