Tamil Nadu elections: DMK chief Karunanidhi extends hand of friendship to Congress for alliance

Nearly three years after snapping ties with Congress, DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Monday said that the national party would be invited to join the alliance led by his outfit for the upcoming Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu.

"We will not exclude Congress while inviting alliance parties (to join the DMK-led alliance)," he told reporters when asked if his party would invite Congress like it had reached out to DMDK.

An indication to this effect had come as early as in July this year when DMK Treasurer MK Stalin and Congress state unit chief EVKS Elangovan had said that the two parties would "work together" to protect the interests of the people of Tamil Nadu, in particular the oppressed sections. DMK had in early 2013 snapped ties with Congress over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue.

The rupture had also come against the backdrop of the arrests of former Union Minister A Raja and Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi, Rajya Sabha MP, in the alleged spectrum allocation scam. Karunanidhi had days ago reiterated DMK's invite to DMDK chief Vijayakanth to join his party-led front.

To another question, he said his party's manifesto for the elections next year was being prepared to protect the interests of all the sections of society. On the demand for the lifting of the ban on bull taming sport Jallikattu, the former chief minister said, "I am confident that a formal announcement will be made very soon by a central minister."