NEWSLINKS US EDITION COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
N Sathiya Moorthy in Madras
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam virtually snapped its ties with the Marumalarchi DMK on Friday when Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, head of the National Democratic Alliance in Tamil Nadu, said there was no further scope for talks.
Given the unpleasantness that had developed between the parties over sharing seats for the forthcoming assembly election, it could mar the chances of both, Karunanidhi told reporters in Madras.
"They can contest the polls on their own, if they so desire," he said.
The chief minister objected strongly to the MDMK's penchant for letting its cadres take decisions and proclaim them in the streets. "They have been putting up wall posters expressing unhappiness over the allocation of constituencies," he noted with evident displeasure.
If the MDMK's initial grouse related to the allocation of 21 seats against the 40 it had sought, party general secretary V Gopalasamy aka Vaiko is now taking exception to the DMK allotting only 12 constituencies sought by the MDMK, against Karunanidhi's promise of letting Vaiko choose all 21.
He has also expressed shock at the DMK taking back two of the 23 seats originally allocated to the MDMK.
But Karunanidhi said he could not let the MDMK reopen the seat-sharing talks from scratch, as Vaiko seems to want.
This new turn comes in the wake of the Vanniar-dominated Pattali Makkal Katchi and the anti-PMK Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress quitting the NDA, both blaming Karunanidhi's "high-handed attitude". On Thursday, the Janata Dal United also decided to contest the election on its own, though it has not pulled out of the NDA.
Meanwhile, the MGR-Anna DMK, yet another member of the NDA in Tamil Nadu, is still to begin talks with the DMK on sharing seats. The party is said to be upset about the allocation of just three seats to it.
The DMK, however, argues that MGR-ADMK leader S Thirunavukkarasu stalled talks when he was first offered five seats and by the time he came around, events had overtaken the promise.
(With additional reporting by PTI)
EARLIER REPORT: MDMK free to leave NDA: Karunanidhi
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