By IANS,
New Delhi : Senior Congress party leaders felt there was still room left for negotiation after the sudden decision Saturday by the DMK to pull out of the seven-year pact with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) federal government.
Even DMK leaders post the decision of the party on withdrawal of support communicated in the evening said they could reconsider if the Congress party were to relent on the seat-sharing formulae proposed by their party, which has 18 members in Lok Sabha.
“The developments have been sudden. We are in the process of consultations. It is too early to comment,” said Satyavrat Chaturvedi, a former spokesperson for the Congress party, even as senior DMK leader T.R. Baalu was equally cryptic.
“We are all friends. We do not see the end of the road. Even though we have withdrawn our ministers, our friendship will continue forever,” Baalu told reporters after soon after the DMK communicated its decision.
“Definitely we will have a discussion, but if they reconsider.”
Even Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said the issues will be resolved. In a rather candid admission, he told reporters there were problems with the Tamil Nadu-based ally over seat-sharing for assembly elections, but that the same would be set to rest.
“In our political relationship, we have sometimes some problems. We have the capacity to create problems and at the same time solve them. It will be solved,” Mukherjee had said Saturday noon.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi also hoped for a resolution. “There is no need to comment on it now,” he told reporters here. “Unnecessary press comments will only muddy the waters.”
With only a month to go for the Tamil Nadu assembly elections, the DMK had said it was ending its seven-year alliance with the Congress party and asked its six ministers in the federal council of ministers to quit.
A DMK resolution said, henceforth the support to UPA government will be “issue-based”. The stated reason for the dramatic decision was the Congress’ insistence on contesting 63 of the 234 assembly seats in the state.
DMK chief Karunanidhi said in Chennai that he initially wanted to give the Congress 51 seats to contest in Tamil Nadu’s 234-seat assembly, which was increased to 53, then to 55, further to 58 and finally to 60.
“But is it practical for the Congress to demand 63 seats and expect them to be given?”