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Vaiko holds parleys with Karunanidhi

Senior leaders of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, led by party general secretary Vaiko, held preliminary talks with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi at his Gopalapuram residence in Madras today, regarding an electoral alliance for the coming Lok Sabha elections.

After the hour-long talks, Karunanidhi and Vaiko told newsmen separately that the discussions were cordial and fruitful. However, they were only preliminary. The two parties would set up committees to hold further talks on seat-sharing.

Vaiko said the DMK would head the alliance in the state.

The DMK and MDMK are constituents of the National Democratic Alliance headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

This is the first formal meeting senior MDMK leaders had with Karunanidhi since 1993, when Vaiko broke away from the DMK.

Referring to this, Vaiko said he had no regret about the past.

Even Karunanidhi seemed to have taken the past in his stride. "What is there to forgive," he asked.

Besides Vaiko, MDMK presidium chairman L Ganesan, treasurer Kannappan and deputy general secretary Chenji Ramachandran were among those who took part in the talks.

Apart from the MDMK and DMK, the Pattali Makkal Katchi and the Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress, led by Union Petroleum Minister Vazhapadi K Ramamurthy, are the other partners of the NDA in Tamil Nadu.

The Tamil Maanila Congress, an ally of the DMK since 1996, is now separated from it after it had voted against the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in the Lok Sabha. Its position is still not clear.

UNI

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