Congress won't come back for patch up: MK Alagiri

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and Union minister MK Alagiri on Sunday said his party did not expect the Congress to "come back" for a possible patch up, a day after DMK announced pulling out of the Union cabinet following failure of seat sharing talks with Congress.

"We don't expect Congress to come back," Alagiri, elder son of chief minister of Tamil Nadu M Karunanidhi, told reporters at the party headquarters in Chennai responding to queries if he expected the Congress to approach the DMK to resolve the stalemate.

He said it was DMK, which had taken a decision to come out of the Union cabinet, and even in the event of the Congress not figuring in the DMK-led alliance, his party's prospects would not be affected in the April 13 polls.

DMK had surprised the Congress by announcing on Saturday that it was pulling out from the government, saying that party did not want it to continue in the alliance.

The party accused the Congress of increasing its demand to 63 assembly seats after initially agreeing for 60 seats.

DMK has six ministers in the Union cabinet including Alagiri and Dayanidhi Maran.

Earlier at Tiruchirappalli, Alagiri said only Karunanidhi will decide about continuing alliance with the Congress.

Talking to newsmen after declaring open a Steel rolling mill constructed at a cost of Rs310 crore near Musiri about 30 km from Chennai, Alagiri said he would be going to Delhi tomorrow, and "other things" would be decided by the party leader (Karunanidhi).