``Will not an estranged son visit his father?'' This was how Vaiko reacted to his ``cordial, good and significant'' tete-e-tete with his political foe-turned-thalaivar (elder). But, significantly, the attendant emotion and drama of a homecoming of a long-lost son was conspicuously absent at the Gopalapuram residence of the Chief Minister on Thursday when Vaiko called on him.

When Vaiko coyly stepped into Karunanidhi's residence, accompanied by party seniors M Kannappan, L Ganesan and Chenjee Ramachandran, under full media glare, there was hardly any DMK senior to receive him at the entrance. Only, an unusually large posse of cops was at hand.

Then, withoutas much as lifting his head, Vaiko walked in only to be led upstairs to Karunanidhi's room by the latter's aide Shanmuganathan. Immediately, the TV crews whirred in, lensmen jostled to capture the prospective emotionally-charged political drama. But touching scenes, there were hardly any.

And the moment Vaiko entered the room, what the media scouring for drama got was not two estranged political leaders affectionately throwing into each others' arms but only a mild handshake and a brief exchange of broad smiles. When the lensmen wanted a replay, the leaders brushed them aside, saying, ``It will look like the hand symbol of the Congress''. Apart from Karunanidhi, none of the senior DMK leaders barring Minister Durai Murugan were present during the preliminary negotiations today.

Emerging from the one-hour meeting, a visibly uneasy Vaiko told the waiting media that preliminary talks regarding alliance with the DMK were held and that both parties would set up committees to thrash out a seat-sharingarrangement.

At pains to remove any doubts about the success of the meeting, Vaiko said, ``I came here with a lot of affection and thalaivar

, too, reciprocated the love''.

As for Karunanidhi, ``There is nothing to forgive him (Vaiko) about''. Describing the talks as ``cordial and good,'' Karunanidhi said the talks had not reached final stages of negotiations and that they were only preliminary in nature.

All out to please Karunanidhi, Vaiko declared that ``naturally the DMK is the leader of the alliance''. However, he made it clear that his party would not merge with the DMK. ``The nuclear family will continue,'' he quipped, scotching speculations of a possible merger with the parent party.

Vaiko expressed confidence that the National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and comprising the DMK among others would win over 400 parliamentary seats in the coming elections and bag all 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.

The main issue this time round in Tamil Nadu was thetoppling game of Jayalalitha whose withdrawal of support to the Vajpayee Government eventually led to the fall of the regime.

On electoral ties with other regional parties in the State, Karunanidhi said preliminary talks with the BJP, Tamil Rajiv Congress and Pattali Makkal Katchi were held and the party general council, which meets on June 2, would be briefed about the developments. To a specific query on seat-sharing parleys with the PMK, the Chief Minister said the two parties had reached considerable level of understanding.