DMK breaks Congress ties, exits from UPA

Chennai : The Congress and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) strife over seat sharing arrangement for the coming Tamil Nadu Assembly election brought down the seven-year-old alliance between the two parties on Saturday.

The DMK will also withdraw six of its ministers from the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre and only extend ?issue-based? support.

The decision was reached after a high level meeting of the DMK on Saturday evening chaired by the party?s chief M Karunanidhi.

Karunanidhi apparently told the meeting that the stalemate over seat-sharing was a veiled effort by the Congress to push them out of the UPA, media reports said. Hence, the party had to reconsider the decision with carrying on the alliance, he was quoted as saying.

Even after three rounds of discussions, the impasse between the two parties refused to break the Congress demanded a larger chunk of constituencies to contest on in the state elections and also inclusion in the government.

But Chief Minister and DMK head Karunanidhi had refused to give in to the demands of the Congress, which give 48 seats last time.

?Both parties had agreed that the Congress would get 51 seats. But the DMK offered 60 seats. Is it right to demand 63 seats? Is it fair for the Congress to decide on the constituencies it would contest?? he was quoted as saying.

However, the Congress said that it was still hopeful of a amiable solution.

Union Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said in New Delhi, ?I can assure you, in our political relationship, we have sometimes some problems. We have the capacity to create problems and at the same time, solve them and it will be solved.?

Congress state in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad also echoed similar sentiments and said both the parties were in consultation to resolve the differences.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has also reportedly spoken to Karunanidhi on telephone over the issue.