DMK not to provide outside support to UPA

The DMK would not provide outside support to the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA), a party leader said Monday.

"We are clear... we will not offer any outside support to the UPA government," DMK leader Tiruchi Siva told IANS.

Dodging questions on a rift within the party, he said former union minister M.K. Alagiri did not attend the party executive meeting as "he was not well". The DMK withdrew from the UPA government over the UN resolution on Sri Lanka. It had demanded that India adopt a strongly worded resolution against Sri Lanka, incorporating the word "genocide".

It had five ministers in the UPA. Alagiri, the elder son of party chief M Karunanidhi, was reportedly not consulted on the decision to quit the government and was believed to be unhappy. The DMK has 18 MPs in the Lok Sabha.