Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has agreed to meet PMK leader S. Ramadoss to discuss the demand for caste enumeration in the State. The meeting will be held at the secretariat on Wednesday.
The Chief Minister's invitation follows a letter written by Dr. Ramadoss on Saturday seeking an appointment to submit the resolution adopted in the meeting of 38 community leaders on September 18 in support of their demand for caste-wise enumeration in the State.
This is the first meeting between the two leaders since 2008. In that meeting, Dr Ramadoss urged Mr Karunanidhi to bring in total prohibition. Even then the PMK was not part of the DMK alliance, though the two parties faced election together in the 2006 Assembly elections.
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In June 2008, the DMK snapped its ties with the PMK, saying it could not continue its relationship with the party that had spoken of it in derogatory terms. Though the two were expected to join hands for the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the PMK chose to join the AIADMK alliance in the State.
The relationship headed towards a revival during the elections to the Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu. The DMK welcomed the PMK to its fold, but refused to accept its request to re-nominate former Union Health Minister Anbumani to the Rajya Sabha.
Though Dr Ramadoss has been saying that he was not in a hurry to make a decision on an alliance for the 2011 Assembly polls, the immediate response from the Chief Minister to meet him heightened the expectations, because a similar request made six months ago to discuss the farmers issue was not reciprocated by the Chief Minister's office.
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The community leaders, headed by Dr Ramadoss, had announced a demonstration on October 21 to highlight their demand for caste-wise enumeration. Before that they wanted to meet the Chief Minister.