Congress -DMK parade ?alliance? at M Karunanidhi?s grandson?s wedding

Madurai : The Congress and DMK on Thursday made optimum use of the occasion of the wedding of Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK supreme M Karunanidhi?s grandson, Dayanidhi Alagiri, with Anusha, a Chennai-based lawyer?s daughter, to parade the close bonds the two parties share.

Though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi skipped the wedding, they were represented by senior Union ministers Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram.

Indicating continuing their ties in next year?s Tamil Nadu state Assembly elections, Mukherjee said at the wedding party, ?Our coalition started in 2004 (both in the state and at the Centre)… we have completed six and half years. There is no doubt that we will be able to do much more as we work together.?

Praising Karunanidhi as a ?political patriarch of this great country?, Mukherjee said, ?I have great appreciation and respect for Karunanidhi for leading all of us in this country.?

Karunanidhi too maintained that the Congress-DMK ties were strong as ever.

?The presence of Congressmen and DMK men indicated how strong our alliance is,? he said.

Doubts have been cast on the alliance after DMK’s A Raja was made to quit following the 2G Spectrum scam report.

Dayanidhi Alagiri, son of Union Fertilizer minister MK Alagiri, tied the knot with Anusha, daughter of Chennai-based lawyer PS Seetharam, at a glittering function at the Tamukkam grounds here.

Karunanidhi conducted ‘Seerthirutha Tirumanam’, marriage performed according to one’s self-respect, rejecting all traditional rites and rituals.