Seeking support in Rajya Sabha polls does not mean DMK has aligned again with Congress: Stalin

DMK today asserted its seeking Congress support in the Rajya Sabha polls did not mean that they had aligned again with that party.

"We came out of the (UPA) alliance on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue and the differences on the matter still persisted," DMK Treasurer M K Stalin said.

Addressing a meeting organised to provide election-funds for the party, Stalin said "We only sought support from the Congress in the Rajya Sabha polls for our candidate Kanimozhi and it has been misinterpreted as if we joined hands again with Congress."

Stalin's statement comes a day after DMK patriarch and his father, M Karunanidhi rejected the charge that his party had compromised on its stand in the Sri Lankan Tamils issue by joining hands with Congress for the Rajya Sabha elections.

Karunanidhi had said the support was unconditional and was confined to the specific polls.

Congress' decision to support DMK came as a surprise against the backdrop of the bitter separation between the two parties after nine years of friendship in the UPA coalition earlier this year over the issue of alleged human rights' violations of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Lauding Karunanidhi for his statesmanship, Stalin said no other party would have won the Rajya Sabha polls with just 23 votes.

Referring to one vote being held invalid, he said such things are common and no politics should be attributed to that.

Kanimozhi was among the six candidates selected for Rajya Sabha, voting for which was held on June 27. She was expected to garner 32 votes including the five from Congress, but had to settle for 31 as one vote was declared invalid.