Congress reaches out to DMK

Antony was closeted with Karunanidhi for nearly an hour,though both sides refused to reveal what transpired during the meeting held at the latter’s residence here. Senior DMK leaders including T R Baalu,K Ponmudi,T K S Elangovan and Karunanidhi’s daughter and Rajya Sabha member K Kanimozhi were also present.

“It was a very,very fruitful meeting. I’ll report to the Congress president whatever he said,” said Antony later,refusing to divulge any details.

DMK leaders maintained they had only discussed the prevailing political situation,but did not share specifics. Party leaders indicated that while the presidential election was the point of discussion,the question of any particular candidate did not figure during the talks.

Incidentally,the DMK has always claimed that it was its proposal to make a woman the president that led to Pratibha Patil’s nomination. This time,there are several names doing the rounds,including that of Vice-President Hamid Ansari,whose minority tag is expected to make him acceptable to the southern party.