Chennai:
Congress leader and Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad met DMK chief M Karunanidhi in Chennai on Thursday, triggering speculation of a possible revival of ties between the two parties.
Mr Azad is the first Congress leader to meet Mr Karunanidhi after his DMK ruled out alliance with the Congress and the BJP.
After his meeting with Mr Karunanidhi, Mr Azad told reporters that the two leaders did not speak anything about the alliance. "When elections will come we will see," he said and added "We have been together for decades, we did not fight with the DMK and our leader respects Karunanidhi and they respect our leader".
Last year, the DMK had snapped ties with the Congress over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue and pulled its ministers out of the Union cabinet. Despite the pull-out, the Congress supported the DMK in the Rajya Sabha elections to enable Mr Karunanidhi's daughter Ms Kanimozhi's re-election to the Upper House.
Presently the DMK has only smaller parties in its fold and is trying to woo actor Vijayakanth's DMDK to fight Lok Sabha polls.