Alliance with DMK 'intact', says Congress

The Congress has brushed aside reports that it is coming closer to actor-politician Vijayakant in Tamil Nadu and made it clear that its alliance with DMK is "strong and intact".

The Congress has brushed aside reports that it is coming closer to actor-politician Vijayakant in Tamil Nadu and made it clear that its alliance with DMK is "strong and intact".

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"Our (Congress') alliance with DMK is strong, intact and dynamic and there is no need for a change in alliance in Tamil Nadu at this juncture," AICC observer for the state V Arunkumar told PTI.

"The reports about Congress and Vijayakant coming together are baseless and it is just because I met the actor- politician during a plane journey some time back. There is no occasion that a Congress leader spoke to Vijayakant.

"More importantly, this has got nothing to do with politics," he said.

Seeking to downplay the reports of "differences" between the Congress and DMK over the LTTE issue, the AICC observer said, "I don't read it as friction. We have expressed our sentiments on the issue.

"Chief Minister Karunanidhi has also spoken at length in the Assembly about the government's stand against the LTTE's supporters," he said.

The Congress MLAs had staged a walkout from the Assembly seeking arrest of LTTE supporters, despite Karunanidhi's assurance to take action.

Arunkumar said the Congress had never hurt the sentiments of anyone and the DMK had never accused the party of "breaking any coalition dharma".