Karunanidhi non-committal on DMK-PMK tie up

Chennai: Two days after declaring that PMK had joined the DMK-led alliance for the coming Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Tuesday remained non-committal on the issue, leaving a cloud of uncertainty.

"I was under the impression (that PMK was aligning with DMK) following circumstances and various communications they had been having with us on this matter," he told reporters at the party headquarters on arrival from Delhi.

When pointed out that PMK leader S Ramadoss had twice written to him last year favouring electoral ties with DMK but had now reversed his stance, he said, "You should not ask that question to me."

Asked if PMK would still make it to the DMK alliance which also had Congress in it, he said, "When he (Ramadoss) has refuted my statement, this question does not arise."

Shortly after Karunanidhi's announcement on the alliance, Ramadoss had said that his party has not yet taken any decision on the issue.

Karunanidhi said his Delhi visit had been a "successful" one, both from a political and official points of view.

The DMK chief denied reports that Congress had made a pitch for power-sharing during discussions with the national party's leadership in Delhi in case the DMK-Congress combine sailed through the Assembly elections scheduled in May.

He said committees in the DMK and Congress would be formed soon to discuss seat sharing and constituencies and said that "this combine has already decided to fight the elections from the same platform".

Forged in 2004, the DMK-Congress combine has fought together and won the 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha polls as well as the 2006 Assembly elections.

On the issue of Tamil Nadu fishermen allegedly being repeatedly attacked by the Sri Lankan Navy, Karunanidhi said he had discussed the matter in detail during the chief ministers' conference on internal security earlier today and also taken it up with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during their meeting yesterday.

Karunanidhi said External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and Foreign Secretary Nirapama Rao had called on him in Delhi today, where Rao had apprised him of her visit to Colombo to discuss the fishermen attack.

Asked if retrieval of Katchatheevu, an islet ceded to Sri Lanka, would solve the vexed issue of Tamil Nadu fishermen allegedly being attacked by the Lankan Navy, he said it is a question of debate.