Rahul Gandhi, Tamil Nadu Congress leaders discuss about alliance with DMK

New Delhi, Jan 21: Rahul Gandhi on Jan 20 held deliberations with Congress leaders from Tamil Nadu on the strategy to be adopted in the poll-bound state where the issue of forging an alliance holds the key to prospects of the party.

"Everyone gave ideas and opinions to the leadership on how to face the elections," TNCC chief E V K S Elangovan after the parleys with the Congress Vice President.

Congress had contested the last Lok Sabha elections on its own and had drawn a blank. It had contested the last Assembly elections alongwith DMK but secured just five seats.

Assembly strength in the state is 234. Talking to PTI, Elangovan refused to elaborate on the stand of the the state unit on the alliance issue, insisting that it was for the party high command to decide whether the Congress should fight as part of a tieup with other like minded parties or go it alone.

Several former PCC chiefs and former Ministers were present in the consultations. Only last month, DMK chief M Karunanidhi had said that Congress would be invited to join the alliance led by his outfit for the upcoming Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. Karunanidhi's statement had come nearly three years after snapping ties with Congress.

"We will not exclude Congress while inviting alliance parties (to join the DMK-led alliance)," he had said when the New Year was about to ring in. He was responding to queries if his party would invite Congress like it had reached out to DMDK.

In July last year, DMK Treasurer MK Stalin and Elangovan had said the two parties would "work together" to protect the interest of the people of Tamil Nadu, in particular the oppressed sections.

DMK had in early 2013 snapped ties with Congress over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue. The rupture had also come against the backdrop of the arrests of former Union Minister A Raja and Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi, Rajya Sabha MP, in the alleged spectrum allocation scam.

Congress is out of power in the key southern state for nearly five decades and has generally been aligning with either of the Dravidian party- DMK or AIADMK. Sometimes, it had contested alone too but without much success.

PTI