The negotiations seem to be going on the right direction as the DMK on Monday put on hold the resignation of its six ministers from the UPA Government.
Deputy Chief Minister of Tamli Nadu M K Stalin told reporters at Chennai that Senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee talked to DMK chief M Karunanidhi on phone twice and urged him not to pull out his ministers from the cabinet during the Budget Session and sought a day’s time to resolve problems.
The turn of events took place after Mukherjee held a series of meeting first with DMK minister Dayanidhi Maran followed by discussions with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel, Congress in-charge of party affairs in Tamil Nadu Ghulam Nabi Azad and Home Minister P Chidambaram were present during the discussions between Maran and Mukherjee.
Shortly before the six ministers, including Maran and M K Alagiri, were to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and handover their resignation in the evening, Chidambaram met Mukherjee for a second time.
The Union Finance Minister then called Karunanidhi seeking a day’s time to come back with Congress’ position on the seat-sharing issue.
Late on Sunday night, Mukherjee called DMK Parliamentary Party leader T R Baalu and asked him to convey to Karunanidhi not to withdraw the ministers from the government.
Baalu told reporters during the day that there was no question of reconsidering the withdrawal decision. Notwithstanding the call, the six ministers left Chennai as scheduled in the morning for Delhi to meet the Prime Minister and tender their resignation.
Meanwhile the AICC spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi described the talks of a threat to the UPA government as the creation of “minds of fertile imagination”
Asked whether Congress was open to the idea of aligning with AIADMK, Singhvi remarked “I am not going into any speculative and hypothetical question at this stage.”
Peeved over Congress demand for 63 seats as against the 60 agreed for the 13th April Assembly polls in the state, DMK had announced on Saturday its decision to walk out of the cabinet, saying it would extend only ‘issue-based’ support.