ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

Karunanidhi sings different tune on supporting Congress

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M Karunanidhi said today there was no need for his party to extend support to the Congress if it attempted to form an alternative government at the Centre.

Moreover, there was no threat to the BJP-led government at the Centre now, he told newsmen in Madras.

Asked if the DMK would support the Congress if it attempted to form an alternative government at the Centre, he said, "Why should we take a stand at this juncture when the Congress has not even approached us?"

While the DMK shared the Left parties' view that the BJP was communal, he had taken exception to their earlier unilateral offer of support to the Congress in case it attempted to form an alternative government, Karunanidhi said.

He said he had made it clear to Communist Party of India general secretary A B Bardhan and CPI-M leader Harkishen Singh Surjeet, when they called on him recently, that they should not have made the offer to the Congress without consulting the DMK and its ally the Tamil Maanila Congress.

Karunanidhi reiterated that maintenance of cordial relations with the Centre did not imply support to the BJP.

All issues relating to the "third front" would be discussed when leaders of the Left parties and the DMK would meet at Delhi in the middle of October, he added.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report