Tamil Nadu polls: DMK won't shake hands with TMC

Chennai: DMK treasurer M.K. Stalin on Thursday shut the doors on the TMC, eliminating one of the major irritants in the DMK-Congress seat sharing talks deadlocked for a week.

Emerging out of the discussions with party leader M. Karunanidhi and other senior leaders,  Stalin denied that the DMK is holding negotiations with the Tamil Maanila Congress led by former Union minister G.K. Vasan. “No talks are being held with TMC. Such media reports are imaginary”, he said.

His denial comes a day after DMK spokesperson T.K.S. Elangovan had said the DMK saw no obstacles in admitting the TMC if the Congress itself had no objection to it.

He was reacting to Congress national secretary S. Thirunavukkarasar, who said the DMK could bring in any other party, but should not reduce the seats for Congress in that process.

The Congress leader also added “The Congress led by the Nehru family is the real Congress. Several parties could exist with the suffix Congress,” in an obvious reference to the TMC.

Stalin’s comments too showed that the DMK is in a give and take mood in the seat negotiations with the Congress and the Congress is expected to reciprocate the DMK’s goodwill by coming down on its demand for higher number of seats. The state Congress leaders too are not for a confrontation with the DMK since there are not many options available for the Congress.