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Pawar meets Jaya for 150 mts, clinches tieup

The Congress and the All India Anna DMK today virtually struck an alliance to fight the general election in Tamil Nadu.

This was indicated by senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Sharad Pawar to reporters after a 150-minute meeting with AIADMK chief J Jayalaitha at her Poes Garden bungalow in Madras.

Pawar said the two parties would work together but the modalities of seat-sharing were not discussed today.

He said he and Jayalalitha had held extensive talks on the political situation in the state. They had also discussed the issues to be highlighted in the poll campaign.

The talks were positive and encouraging, he said, and added that he would visit Madras again next week to continue his talks with Jayalalitha on the modalities of the alliance.

Pawar said he would report the details of his talks to party president Sonia Gandhi and senior colleagues before divulging them to the media.

Replying to a question, he said there was no divergent view in his party on the question of alliance with the AIADMK. He had met Jayalalitha as a representative of the Congress party, he added.

Asked whether the Tamil Maanila Congress, which voted against the Vajpayee government during the confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, would be part of the alliance, Pawar evaded a direct reply, but said he welcomed the return of all former Congressmen to the party.

The TMC, which fell out with its ally, the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, after it voted differently in the confidence motion last month, has stated it will not be part of any front in which the "corrupt AIADMK was a partner".

Pawar's remark today implies that the Congress did not contemplate any electoral tie-up with the TMC, but would welcome its merger with the parent organisation.

Answering a question, Pawar said Jayalalitha had told him that some Left parties and others were holding talks with her on having an electoral understanding.

His party had no objection to this, the Congress leader said.

Pawar said the Congress Working Committee would meet in the next four or five days to discuss the issue of an alliance with the AIADMK.

It was not clear whether Pawar and Jayalalitha discussed any formula for sharing seats.

In the past, the Congress had contested two-thirds of the seats in the state in the Lok Sabha poll, leaving one-third to the AIADMK. This was reversed for the assembly election.

With the AIADMK winning 18 Lok Sabha seats in the last election after aligning with the BJP and the Congress drawing a blank, whether the old formula would still hold good is a matter of conjecture.

Earlier, the AIADMK headquarters announced in a press release that Jayalalitha and Pawar had held preliminary talks on the question of alliance.

It said Congress president Sonia Gandhi had telephoned Jayalalitha yesterday and informed her that Pawar was being sent to discuss the issue.

Pawar and Jayalaihta have a good rapport. The two had a one-to-one meeting, without other leaders of either party being present. The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee was apparently kept in the dark about Pawar's visit.

The TNCC had organised a meeting of office-bearers and district Congress presidents today, unaware of the meeting between Pawar and Jayalalitha.

This was the first high-level meeting between the Congress and the AIADMK after the Vajpayee government was voted out on April 17 last.

UNI

EARLIER REPORT:

Pawar in Madras for talks with Jaya

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