Pranab Mukherjee urges DMK to rethink pullout

Finance Minister and senior Congress party leader Pranab Mukherjee has urged the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) to rethink its decision of breaking off their alliance.

Six ministers from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) ministers in the Union Cabinet will tender their resignations on Monday, DMK leader and Lok Sabha MP TR Baalu had said on Sunday.

But Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is unlikely to accept registrations immediately as the final call is expected to be taken only after the Congress weighs in how the split will impact the coalition government at the Centre, media reports said.

The DMK had on Saturday night decided of pulling out its ministers from the Union Cabinet following differences with the Congress over seat sharing in Tamil Nadu elections.

?Our ministers will do to Delhi tomorrow (Monday) to submit their resignations,? Baalu said.

He added that no one from Congress has been in touch with the DMK after Saturday?s evenings developments.

The DMK, the third largest ally in the United progressive Alliance (UPA) after the Congress and Trinamool Congress, has six members in the Union Cabinet.

The strife over seat sharing arrangement for the coming Tamil Nadu Assembly election virtually brought down the seven-year-old alliance between Congress and DMK on Saturday.

The DMK decided to withdraw its ministers 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 and Tamil Nadu chief minister 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 Karunanidhi had refused to give in to the demands of the Congress, which was given 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 said on Friday.