MDMK continues to be stumbling block in seat sharing:DMK

Tiruchirapalli, Mar 3 (UNI) Indicating that the Marumalarchi DMK (MDMK) was continuing to be a stumbling block in the seat sharing talks, DMK President M Karunanidhi today virtually served an ultimatum to that party, saying it should accept the latest offer of 22 seats to stay in the alliance.

Addressing a press conference after chairing the party's General Council meeting here, Mr Karunanidhi made it clear that the DMK could only offer a maximum of 22 seats and there was no scope for offering more seats to the MDMK.

''The MDMK can continue in the alliance if it accepted the offer,'' he said, replying to a question.

Dismissing as false, reports in a section of the media that the DMK had offered a paltry 16 seats to the MDMK, he said he began negotiation with Mr Vaiko with an initial offer of 20 seats and when he spoke to him yesterday over the phone, he scaled up the offer to 22 seats, Mr Karunanidhi said.

Mr Vaiko had initially asked for 25 seats, but we made it clear that we could not offer more than 22 seats, Mr Karunanidhi said.

''The DMK is not in a position to offer more. If the MDMK accepted our latest offer, it can still be part of the alliance,'' he said.

MORE UNI WS-GSM VV RL RN1523