CHENNAI, JULY 18: The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) will finalise seat-sharing arrangements with its allies for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections by this month-end, party president M Karunanidhi announced today. After the agreement is clinched, he will undertake an election tour.Addressing mediapersons at the end of a meeting of DMK ministers, district secretaries and youth wing secretaries, he said the party will elicit the views of district secretaries on the prevailing situation in each constituency tomorrow.The party will release a separate manifesto for Tamil Nadu once the seat-sharing is finalised. However, the DMK will also express its political stand at the national level in the manifesto to be brought out by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Asked about the focus of the party's manifesto, the Chief Minister quipped, ``It is like a budget (and so cannot be revealed).''Refusing to comment on the electoral prospects of the third front formed by the party's erstwhile ally TamilMaanila Congress, Karunanidhi said the DMK will field candidates in Natham and Tiruvattar Assembly constituencies where simultaneous by-polls will be held. Whether the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam would accommodate parties like the Janata Dal which were ditched by the AIADMK, he could not say.On the continuance of the DMK Ministry with the Tamil Maanila Congress' support in Pondicherry, he shot back, ``Do you feel it should not continue?'', adding, ``In each State, a party has different policy and that would apply to Pondicherry.''He dismissed as ``media conception'' that he had expressed anguish over corruption digging roots in the DMK at last month's general council meeting.Today's meeting decided to form joint campaign committees comprising the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and its allies in all constituencies.
