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MDMK ready to contest all TN seats

The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam today went ahead with the screening of candidates to contest all the 40 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, even as party general secretary Vaiko maintained that the MDMK would continue to be part of the National Democratic Alliance.

The stalemate in the party regarding a seat-sharing agreement with the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which is heading the NDA in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, persisted today with both the DMK and the MDMK in no mood to retract from their stands.

The DMK has offered five Lok Sabha seats and one assembly seat to the MDMK. This was not acceptable to the MDMK which had contested five seats in the 1998 election and won three.

In an informal chat with reporters at his party office, Vaiko said he would meet, if necessary, DMK president and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi for seat-sharing talks.

Vaiko has convened a fresh meeting of the party district secretaries tomorrow to take stock of the situation.

UNI

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