ADMK alliance -- Cong emissaries tight-lipped about talks

ADMK alliance -- Cong emissaries tight-lipped about talks
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

CHENNAI, FEB 19: Suspense over the Congress stand on whether to remain in the AIADMK-led front after the PMK's entry for the coming elections in Tamil Nadu continued today as the party emissaries, who held hour-long parleys with AIADMK chief Jayalalitha, declined to divulge the outcome.

Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee and Ghulam Nabi Azad, deputed by the high command to seek details from Jayalalitha on PMK's admission, held talks with Jayalalitha at her residence, besides meeting TMC President G K Moopanar twice.

The emissaries, who called on Moopanar in the morning, rushed to his house again after meeting Jayalalitha, apparently to apprise him of their talks, indicating that TMC had been given a prime place in the election parleys.

Mukherjee later told reporters that he was not in a position to divulge the details of the talks he had with Jayalalitha. He would inform AICC President Sonia Gandhi and the Congress Working Committee on the nature of talks, he said. "A final decision has to be taken by the CWC," he added.

Replying to a question on the possibilities of a Third Front in the state, Mukherjee said, "I am not here to pass on any value judgment. We have to assess hard factual positions," he added without elaborating further.

Mukherjee and Azad earlier said both the TMC and Congress would evolve a joint strategy to face the polls.

He said they informed Jayalalitha of the "Congress perception" on the electoral scene in the state. "She informed us about her party's perception," he said.

Later, an AIADMK press release said Jayalalitha discuss electoral ties between the parties for both Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu with the emissaries.

TMC sources described Mukherjee calling on Moopanar twice during the day as "significant" because he had not met the TMC leader when he held talks on electoral ties with Jayalalitha on Jan 20.

"Any decision will be taken collectively by us," the sources said.

Meanwhile, talking to reporters earlier in the day, Moopanar said he was not aware of any official level contacts between the TMC and DMK on the poll issue.

He was responding to a question from reporters on the remarks by DMK President M Karunanidhi yesterday that TMC General Secretary K S Alagiri was discussing the alliance issue with senior DMK Leader and Assembly Speaker P T R Palanivelrajan.