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Congress-Jayalalitha alliance in the offing

Tamil Nadu's Congress president Tindivanam K Ramamurthy today indicated that his party would go in for an electoral alliance with the All India Anna DMK led by J Jayalalitha.

While declining to elaborate he did give enough hints about an alliance with the AIADMK by saying that corruption was not an issue in the coming Lok Sabha election. The issue, he asserted, was religious fundamentalism and threat to secularism.

Ramamurthy, who returned to Madras after holding talks with Sonia Gandhi and senior working committee members in Delhi, said if the Congress high command favoured an electoral tie-up with the AIADMK the state unit would welcome it.

Asked whether his party would have problems in carrying on with the AIADMK without friction, he said his party would have no problem with anyone. The Congress would neither appease anyone nor allow itself to be blackmailed, he remarked.

Ramamurthy declined to give details of his talks with senior party leaders in Delhi. Asked about the possibility of the Tamil Maanila Congress having an electoral tie-up or merger with his party, he said he had already stated that all Congressmen who had left the party were welcome to rejoin it.

Ramamurthy's statement that the property dispute with the TMC would be resolved amicably is also seen as an indication that the two parties are set to come together. He, however, said he had no details of the talks TMC leaders had with Sonia Gandhi and other leaders in Delhi.

Ramamurthy said Sonia Gandhi was expected to tour Tamil Nadu extensively for the election campaign. She would address rallies in at least six cities in the state, he added.

Meanwhile, TMC president G K Moopanar said his party would wait for the Congress high command to take a decision on the question of alliance in Tamil Nadu. Talking to reporters on his return from Delhi, where he had held talks with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Moopanar said he had presented an overview of the ground reality in Tamil Nadu and it was now for the Congress to decide.

Moopanar had earlier stated that the TMC would not align with any party which had a tie-up with the AIADMK led by Jayalalitha. Asked whether he was still firm in his stand, he said such questions need not be discussed now as they would complicate matters.

UNI

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