Former Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to make 'courtesy call' to Karunanidhi

CHENNAI:Congress leader and former Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today said he will make a "courtesy call" to DMK chief M Karunanidhi tomorrow, in the first high-level meeting between the two parties to start possible negotiations for an alliance in the upcoming polls.

Azad told reporters here that it will be a "courtesy call" and that he made a point to pay a visit to the DMK president every time he visited Chennai.

"Let us see what happens. We are going to start with a courtesy call and there is a tradition that as and when I am in Chennai, I will always meet the DMK leader," he said when asked about the meeting slated for tomorrow.

Azad said he will be accompanied by senior leader and party's Tamil Nadu in-charge, Mukul Wasnik and TNCC president E V K S Elangovan.

In his attempt to cobble up a strong alliance against the ruling AIADMK, Karunanidhi had invited Congress, besides DMDK, for a poll pact for the ensuing Assembly elections in the state.

Having joined hands in 2004 with Congress, DMK had walked out of UPA in 2013 over the vexed Sri Lankan Tamils issue.