Logjam over seat sharing talks between DMK, Cong continues

CHENNAI: The stalemate in seat sharing talks between DMK and Congress for the April 13 Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu persisted with AICC president Sonia Gandhi's special emissary Ghulam Nabi Azad leaving for New Delhi today after his inconclusive talks with DMK chief M Karunanidhi.

The scheduled meeting between Karunanidhi and Azad this morning was cancelled with the Congress leader deciding to rush to New Delhi.

Before his departure, Azad told reporters at the airport here that he had a long discussion with Karunanidhi late last night. "Whatever has come out of the discussion, I have to discuss with my leadership", he said. "We will have another round of meeting soon", he said.

Asked whether the Congress' demand for increased number of seats and a share in power had led to the present situation, Azad shot back, "No, no".

Azad, in charge of Congress affairs in Tamil Nadu, flew in here last night to pick up the threads from the second round of discussions the two parties had on February 25.

The talks have, however, not been able to break the deadlock with parties haggling hard over the number of seats and power sharing.

With the Election Commission announcing the schedule for the single phase polls and barely 16 days left for filing of nominations to begin, the two key UPA allies are under increasing pressure to reach a seat sharing deal.

The DMK has completed the seat sharing exercise with minor allies like PMK, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, IUML and Movendar Munnetra Kazhagam.