TMC not aware of talks with DMK -- Moopanar

TMC not aware of talks with DMK -- Moopanar
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

CHENNAI, FEB 19: The Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) was not aware of any official level discussions between the party and DMK, TMC president G K Moopanar said today.

Responding to reporters' queries about DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's remarks that TMC general secretary K S Alagiri had held talks with the DMK leader P T R Palanivelrajan on the alliance issue, Moopanar said, ``We are not aware of any official discussions with the DMK''.

On his discussions with senior Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee and Gulam Nabi Azad today, he said the discussions were ``useful'' and both the parties decided to work in unison in evolving an electoral strategy.

Moopanar said the discussions between the Congress and the TMC were progressing well and added that the final decision on the party's electoral stand would be taken ``very shortly''.

Meanwhile, Senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee confirmed that his party and the TMC would evolve a ``joint electoral strategy'' for the coming assembly polls.

Though Congress and the TMC would work together, there would not be any collective bargaining in the seat-sharing talks with the AIADMK, he said.

Mukherjee said he would hold talks with AIADMK chief Jayalalitha later during which issues like PMK's entry into the AIADMK front and Pondicherry assembly polls will be taken up.

The Congress leader, who has already held one round of talks with Jayalalitha on January 20, admitted that the electoral scene in Tamil Nadu has changed after PMK's entry into the AIADMK-led front. ``I hope the discussions will be smooth,'' he said.

Asked if Chief Minister Karunanidhi's offer of 40 seats to the TMC would pose any serious problem in the working together of both Congress and TMC, Mukherjee said, ``I do not think so.''

Later, Mukherjee and Ghulam Nabi Azad held discussions with state Congress leaders to ascertain their views on the issue of alliance.

Meanwhile, PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss justified his party's tie-up with the AIADMK and said the alliance was strong. ``The alliance cannot be disrupted or disturbed,'' he said, addressing a party meeting at Bahoor near Pondicherry, last night.

Training his guns on Karunanidhi, Ramadoss charged that the former was responsible for the defeat of PMK nominees in some Lok Sabha constituencies in the last polls.

On Karunanidhi's recent remarks that the coming election could be his last polls due to health grounds, Ramadoss said as a medico himself, he felt that Karunanidhi ``could take rest now''.