The Congress was, however, offered a Rajya Sabha nomination and the Chief Minister’s post in Puducherry that would also be going to polls along with Tamil Nadu. It is learnt that Congress leaders said that they wanted to nurture the party in Tamil Nadu and hence wanted more constituencies to expand their popularity and also power sharing. The DMK is also said to have expressed reservations over the manner in which AICC incharge for Tamil Nadu Girish Chodankar has been brusque with his statements against the DMK in the last few months. In fact, it was Chodankar who opened the Pandora's Box on the alliance by first demanding a substantial number of seats from the DMK with the claim that the Congress has grown in popularity. While a section of the Congress leaders, including those like Praveen Chakravarty and Chodonkar, favour a tie-up with TVK, many other top leaders in the State were inclined to continue the alliance with the DMK.