DMK-Cong lines still open

Earlier in the day,the DMK had put off until Tuesday its decision to pull out of the government. The Congress was said to be under pressure from its leaders in UP not to hinge its survival on possible support from the SP.

Late evening,the two parties were said to be likely to sort out thorny issues of seat-sharing and identification of constituencies by Tuesday. A top DMK source said,It is all about numbers now, referring to the disagreement over the number of seats the Congress would contest in the Assembly elections. The Congress wants 63 of the 234 seats,three more than what the DMK has offered.

Hectic daylong consultations saw senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee reaching out twice to DMK chief M Karunanidhi,and engage in intense discussions with Sonia in the Lok Sabha. The two later held a meeting,after which Mukherjee and AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad met Dayanidhi Maran in the finance ministers chamber in Parliament House.

Senior Congress leaders including Ahmed Patel,political secretary to the Congress president,Home Minister P Chidambaram and Azad then held discussions over lunch in Mukherjees chamber. Emerging from the meeting,Azad said the stalemate was yet to be broken.

The initial plan of the DMK ministers to meet the Prime Minister with their resignations at 11 am was revised to 6 pm. It was in the intervening period that Mukherjee called Karunanidhi twice. After the second call,said to have been made around 1.30 pm,the Karunanidhi family went into a huddle with other top DMK leaders including parliamentary party leader T R Baalu at the Tamil Nadu chief ministers Gopalapuram residence.

In the evening,Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin told reporters at the party office in Chennai that the final decision on quitting the Union Cabinet will be taken tomorrow. Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi said negotiations were on.