By IANS,
New Delhi: Parleys between the Congress and DMK to keep their alliance together gathered pace Monday with DMK ministers Dayanidhi Maran and M.K. Alagiri meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence.
Congress sources said that Maran and Alagiri met Gandhi in a bid to sort out the impasse over seat sharing in the 234-member Tamil Nadu assembly for the April 13 polls.
The meeting with Gandhi comes after the DMK decided to put on hold till Tuesday its decision to withdraw all its six ministers, including Alagiri and Maran, from the union cabinet.
The sources said the two ministers carried a message from DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi for Gandhi.
The meeting came on a day of hectic consultation between the two parties following the DMK’s decision Saturday to pull out its ministers from the United Progressive Alliance government due to problems over seat-sharing for the assembly polls.
Congress leader and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee spoke to Karunanidhi twice on the telephone while other Congress leaders met Maran in New Delhi, said sources in both parties.