JULY 1- Scotching speculation of a tie-up, DMK on Sunday ruled out possibility of an alliance with the Congress in the coming Lok Sabha elections and made it clear it only sought the support of that party in the Rajya Sabha polls.
“Seeking the support of the party for a Rajya Sabha MP post did not mean we have aligned with it again. We will not have any alliance with Congress for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls,” senior DMK leader and party Treasurer M K Stalin said here on Sunday.
“We came out of the UPA due to differences on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue and the differences persisted,” he said and ruled out the possibility of aligning with the Congress for the Lok Sabha or even assembly elections.
He reiterated the party had sought support of the Congress in the RS polls to elect Kanimozhi as MP “which is a common practice followed by any political party.”
Addressing a meeting organised to provide election-funds for the party, Stalin said “We only sought support from the Congress in the Rajya Sabha polls for our candidate Kanimozhi and it has been misinterpreted as if we joined hands again with Congress.”
Stalin’s statement comes a day after DMK patriarch and his father, M Karunanidhi rejected the charge that his party had compromised on its stand in the Sri Lankan Tamils issue by joining hands with Congress for the Rajya Sabha elections.
Karunanidhi had said the support was unconditional and was confined to the specific polls.
Congress’ decision to support DMK came as a surprise against the backdrop of the bitter separation between the two parties after nine years of friendship in the UPA coalition earlier this year over the issue of alleged human rights’ violations of Tamils in Sri Lanka.
Describing Karunanidhi as a “great statesman”, Stalin said the DMK was able to win the Rajya Sabha polls with just 23 MLAs due to the statesmanship of the party president.
He flayed the media for misinterpreting a common practice of seeking support as aligning with the Congress again.
Referring to one vote being held invalid in the June 27 Rajya Sabha polls,he said “such things are common in an election.”
Kanimozhi was among the six candidates selected for Rajya Sabha, voting for which was held on June 27. She was expected to garner 32 votes including the five from Congress, but had to settle for 31 as one vote was declared invalid.
