Against the background of being left alone to fight the Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu, Tamil Nadu Congress President B. S. Gnanadesikan on Monday called on party chief Sonia Gandhi in Delhi and discussed the poll scenario.
Asked if Sonia Gandhi had given any specific instructions on going about the polls in Tamil Nadu in the absence of potential allies or the possibility of “alliance formation still,” he declined to answer.
When his view was sought about an expectation about a “last minute chance for a tie-up with DMK,” still among a section of his partymen, the TNCC chief said, “I don’t know.”
Meanwhile, the Congress Screening Committee for Tamil Nadu headed by Gulam Nabi Azad will scrutinise 800 applications seeking tickets to contest the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi on Tuesday.
No possibility of any alliance in Tamil Nadu: Congress
Earlier, Congress said it would be going alone in the state in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. “There is no possibility of any alliance in Tamil Nadu as of now,” Congress General Secretary Shakeel Ahmed told reporters in New Delhi.
The above statement comes amidst reports that the party’s last-minute efforts to stitch together an alliance with DMK were blocked by its senior leader M.K. Stalin even as the actor-politician Vijayakant-led DMDK joined hands with BJP.
In the 2009 elections, Congress, then a partner in the DMK-led DPA, had contested 16 seats and won nine while the alliance itself claimed an impressive tally of 28 seats.
DMK was part of the Congress-led UPA since it came to power at the Centre in May, 2004, but last year parted ways with the ruling alliance.
Neither do the Left parties have any alliance in Tamil Nadu after the Jayalalithaa-led ruling AIADMK parted ways with them over seat-sharing.
AIADMK is contesting all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu on its own along with the lone constituency in the neighbouring Union Territory of Puducherry. DMK has firmed up an alliance with IUML, MMK, VCK and Puthiya Tamizhagam.
