Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad met DMK president M Karunanidhi at his residence.
Highlights
- Congress and DMK enter alliance ahead of Tamil Nadu assembly polls
- Uniting after 3 years, Congress says DMK is the 'most dependable partner'
- DMK, Congress split after arrest of Ex Union Minister A Raja in 2G scam
Congress and DMK today entered into an alliance to face the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly polls together. The two parties have joining hands after three years.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad met DMK president M Karunanidhi at his residence and announced the tie-up with the regional party which he described as "the most dependable partner".
Mr Azad told reporters after meeting the DMK leader in Chennai that issues such as seat sharing and being part of the DMK-led alliance were not a priority at the moment and that the main goal was to ensure that DMK comes to power.
He said that the election would be fought under the DMK leadership and put the responsibility of roping in more constituents into this alliance on the DMK.
As to what had changed between 2013 and 2016 when DMK snapped ties accusing the Congress of betraying Sri Lankan Tamils, Mr Azad said that there were "compulsions and pressures" in politics and that the two parties had won elections together in the past as well.
The DMK-Congress split had also come against the backdrop of the arrests of former Union Minister A Raja and Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi, a Rajya Sabha MP, in the spectrum allocation scam.
Congress had contested the last Lok Sabha election on its own and had drawn a blank. It had contested the last Assembly elections along with DMK but secured just five seats. Assembly strength in the state is 234.