Past is history, DMK ties up with PMK again

Chennai: The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu on Sunday announced it was tying up with the PMK again after nearly two years but refused to allot the party a seat in the Rajya Sabha polls.

Chief Minister M Karunanidhi said his party had decided to re-admit PMK in the DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance because PMK chief S Ramadoss had written to him.

"Our intentions of re-admitting PMK into the alliance are well founded," Karunanidhi told reporters after a meeting of DMK's high-level committee.

"We have taken the decision on the basis of letters written by PMK founder Ramadoss, who wanted the alliance to be revived," he said. "I hope they (PMK) will accept it."

"Let bygones be bygones. At least let the future be good," said a resolution adopted at the DMK meeting.

The PMK, however, may be disappointed with the DMK's decision as it has been denied a Rajya Sabha seat. The tenure of Rajya Sabha MP and former Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss ends next month and the PMK had sought DMK's support to get him re-elected.

Biennial elections to six Rajya Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu will be held in June. The DMK-PMK alliance would be for the forthcoming elections to the Legislative Council, which has been revived by an Act in Parliament, and for the 2011 Assembly polls.

The DMK resolution said the party would allocate one Rajya Sabha seat to the PMK in the biennial polls to be held after the Assembly polls.

The DMK's decision assumes significance in the wake of speculation that principal opposition AIADMK, which has been battered by a series of desertions, may align with actor-politician Vijayakant's DMDK.

DMK snapped its ties with PMK in June 2008, capping months of bitter relationship between the two parties. DMK took the decision after senior PMK leader J Guru made some critical comments against Karunanidhi.

However, the two parties were on the same platform on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, but failed to stitch an alliance in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. PMK fought the general elections in alliance with AIADMK and drew a blank.

The tie-up would help DMK and PMK in the northern districts of Tamil Nadu where the backward Vanniyar community, the vote bank of PMK, has a sizeable population.