A committee comprising former Union ministers P Chidambaram, M Arunachalam, S R Balasubramaniam, Jayanthi Natarajan and member of the Legislative Assembly D Sudarsanam has been formed to choose allies. Party general secretary K S Alagiri will be the convenor.

The committee will hold talks with potential partners who have been `in touch' with party president G K Moopanar in the last few weeks, with a view to emerge as the winning combination in the 40 constituencies in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.

The committee will also discuss how to broaden the voters' base by bringing into the political firmament several socio-political organisations that have extended support to the Tamil Maanila Congress, appreciating its policy position of fighting ``communal as well as corruptforces that seek to take roots in the State.''

Briefing the media at the end of the three-hour deliberations of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC), general secretary B S Gnanadesikan said the PAC had set in motion the electoral process, gearing the party machinery to face elections as ``the leader of an alternative front that is basically non-Dravidian in character.''

He made it clear that the political platform of the Tamil Maanila Congress would be built around the theme that for the first time since 1989, when the Congress with Moopanar as Pradesh Congress Committee president chose to go it alone and fought both the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the AIADMK, the electorate in Tamil Nadu would be offered a choice to move away from Dravidian ideological moorings.

As part of the agenda of the Political Affairs Committee today, poll-related steps that included setting up of campaign and manifesto committees, were taken up.

All other committees would be formed before July 21, Gnanadesikan said.

Theparty will accept applications from party functionaries for Lok Sabha candidature beginning from tomorrow. The last date for submission of application with the fee of Rs 2,000 -- for women and SC/ST applicants Rs 1,000 -- will be July 25.

Applications would be accepted for all the 40 constituencies, including Pondicherry, Gnanadesikan said.

The interactive exercise that began today will come to an end tomorrow, with inputs from district presidents and leaders of front organisations. These inputs will help the party leadership open an alternative front and chart its course of action, the Tamil Maanila Congress leader added.