TN, WB Cong MPs demand severing of ties with allies

A team of Tamil Nadu Congress MPs, which included Union minister P Chidambaram, met party chief Sonia Gandhi on Sunday and demanded that the alliance with DMK be ended so that Congress fights the May, 2011 elections in the state on its own.

The assessment of the team of Congress MPs - comprising Union ministers G K Vasan and EVKS Elangovan, TN Congress chief K V Thangabalu, MPs Jayanti Natarajan and Manick Tagore besides party MLAs - was that the image of the DMK has taken a huge beating in the backdrop of the 2G scam allegedly involving then telecom minister A Raja.

In the light of this, the Congress should fight the elections on its own to at least retain the possibility of doing well in the polls. They assess that the DMK-Congress combine is unlikely to return to power in the state. TN leaders urged Gandhi to pull back the scheduled visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Chennai  on January 3.

Earlier in the day, speaking at the plenary, Tagore demanded that the time has come to take a decision on the future course that party should take in TN.

Gandhi did not respond to the suggestion but noted that a decision would be made considering various aspects. The Congress supports the ruling DMK in TN, while the DMK is a major partner in the UPA government at the Centre.