Our decision to support DMK in RS polls was unanimous: Wasnik

Says there was no discussion on alliance issue

Though the Congress supported DMK candidate Kanimozhi in the Rajya Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu, there was no discussion between the two parties to fight together the Lok Sabha polls due next year, said Congress general secretary Mukul Wasnik, who is in charge of party affairs in Tamil Nadu.

“The Lok Sabha polls are sometime away and we have not discussed alliance issue. There is a committee headed by Union Defence Minister A.K. Antony that will decide on these issues,” Mr. Wasnik told reporters at the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee heaquarters, Sathyamurthy Bhavan, on Sunday.

He denied that the Congress high command went ahead with supporting the DMK, ignoring the opinion of many Congress leaders who were in favour of Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam candidate and maintained that no decision was taken in isolation.

“We had discussion with all senior leaders and every factor was taken into account, and our decision was unanimous,” he said.

Mr. Wasnik, who presided over a meeting of senior Congress leaders, said that the allegation that the Congress let down the DMDK after promising to support its candidate A.R. Elangovan did not hold water either.

“We had decided on our stance taking into consideration the existing situation,” he said.

Asked whether the Congress would expect the DMK to support the Food Security Bill and the Land Acquisition Bill in return for the support to Ms Kanimozhi, Mr Wasnik insisted that there was no trade off involved.

He said the Congress party in Tamil Nadu had to go a long way in building the party organisation. “The extraordinary situation demands strenuous efforts from the party leaders at various levels,” he said. Asked how it could be possible to build the organisation when the TNCC was functioning without office-bearers for years together, he replied that a decision would soon be taken to fill vacancies. Mr. Wasnik, accompanied by TNCC president B.S. Gnanadesikan, visited the Rajiv Gandhi memorial in Sriperumpudur, on the outskirts of Chennai, and the Moopanar mausoleum in Teynampet here.