Deadlock continues, Karuna to leave for Chennai

Karunanidhi and his entourage will leave for Chennai where they will hold the party's executive meeting to discuss the breakdown in talks over portfolio allocation for the party in the new government.

Meanwhile, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had discussions till early hours this morning and decided to renegotiate with DMK, Congress sources said.

Gandhi and Singh also made calls to DMK chief M Karunanidhi late last night in their last ditch attempt to mollify the Dravidian leader.

During the meeting at PM's residence, the Congress President took stock of the situation after DMK, the third largest pre-poll ally of the ruling coalition, bargained hard for more berths in the Union council of ministers

There are different versions of how many berths the DMK, which has 18 MPs is demanding, and how many the Congress is willing to give.

The Congress is opposed to the inclusion of T R Baalu and A Raja on grounds of performance and alleged corruption which DMK has sought to contest.

The DMK is learnt to have demanded portfolios like shipping, surface transport, communications and environment.

Sonia and Singh discussed names from both Congress and its pre-poll allies for Cabinet berths and allocation of portfolios to the council of ministers.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to be sworn in by President Pratibha Patil at Rashtrapati Bhawan at 6.30 pm today.