DMK and Congress Bury the Hatchet After Spat, Stalin Says Don’t Go Public With Problems

Chennai: Days after an apparent rift in ties over seat-sharing in local body elections, DMK president MK Stalin cautioned ally Congress to not go public with opinions on alliance issues.

Speaking to reporters after a ‘truce’ meeting with state Congress president KS Alagiri at party headquarters 'Anna Arivalayam' here, Stalin said, “I do not wish for the recent events to turn into fodder for opponents and for media to speculate about chinks in the DMK-led alliance."

The two allies buried the hatched following the meeting, with Alagiri saying the alliance would continue even beyond the 2022 Assembly elections.

"All is well between the DMK and our party. There are no issues between us and we will have a healthy debate. The issues we had have been resolved,” Alagiri said.

The rift was triggered when Alagiri had issued a statement accusing the DMK of not following coalition dharma and criticised Stalin over seat-sharing in the recently held local body polls.

The DMK even decided to skip the meeting called by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to fine-tune opposition strategy on the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Reiterating his stand that there were no issues or differences between the two parties, Alagiri on Saturday said both parties had always been united and would continue to be so. He downplayed DMK leader Duraimurugan's remark that Congress had no vote bank, saying the leader had expressed his view.

Recalling the origin of the recent differences, Stalin said Alagiri had issued a statement that Congress was allocated fewer number of president and vice-president seats (in indirect polls) to head district panchayats and panchayat unions.

The DMK chief said the issue should have been resolved through talks, but it became public following the Congress statement. Asserting that continuation of verbal duel would provide fodder to political rivals and a "section of the media”, he said he wanted to end it and asked leaders of both parties not to go public over alliance and related matters like seat sharing.

(With PTI inputs)