The standoff between Congress and DMK over seat-sharing persisted on Tuesday despite hectic efforts to break the ice, as the Dravidian party proceeded with interview of prospective candidates for the April 13 Assembly polls.
“Status quo continues,” DMK spokesperson T. K. S. Elangovan told reporters at the party headquarters Anna Arivalayam in Chennai, where party president and Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi began the process of interviewing the ticket aspirants.
He said there was no communication between his party chief and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who had a 40-minute interaction with DMK leaders and Union Ministers M. K. Alagiri and Dayanidhi Maran Monday night to break the deadlock, which had prompted the DMK to defer its decision to pull out its ministers from the UPA cabinet.
The DMK had put its decision on hold till Tuesday after senior Congress leader and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee sought time from the party to resolve the issue.
Mr. Elangovan referred to the Congress seeking time, but did not say whether the issue would be resolved today.
Hope things will settle: Kanimozhi
DMK MP Kanimozhi has meanwhile expressed the hope that the deadlock between the party and the Congress will be resolved soon.
Ms. Kanimozhi parried questions on what the bone of contention between the two parties in clinching the poll pact was. “We have been allies for a very long time and I hope things will settle,” she told reporters inside Parliament Complex in New Delhi.
Asked when the deadlock is likely to be resolved, she said, “Let’s wait and see what happens.”
When asked whether the alliance will break, she said, “I cannot answer hypothetical questions.”
DMK interviews candidates for polls
The interviews to select candidates for the polls are scheduled to go on for a week.
DMK sources said though all constituencies would come up, they would, however, be allotted to alliance partners, once seat-sharing was finalised with them.
The PMK and VCK have already submitted their wish-list of constituencies and are in talks with the Dravidian party to finalise the list of constituencies. They have been allotted 31 and 10 seats respectively.
