Don't know if Cong will support DMK in by-poll: Karunanidhi

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi, who had recently announced his party's decision to face civic polls without ally Congress, on Wednesday, said he was not sure if the national party would support DMK in the Tiruchirappalli (West) bye-election.

"I do not know," was his reply to reporters' queries in this regard.

While the 88-year-old DMK patriarch had made it clear that the alliance was meant for Lok Sabha and assembly polls, and not local body polls, he also announced jailed former minister K N Nehru as the party's candidate for the October 13 by-poll from Tiruchirappalli (West) constituency.

Strains had appeared in the seven-year-old relations between the two parties, which had faced two Lok Sabha and assembly elections each, early this year during seat-sharing dialogue for the April 13 Assembly polls.

The 2G scam, in which Karunanidhi's MP daughter Kanimozhi and former Union Telecom Minister A Raja have been jailed, is also touted to have played spoilsport in the ties.

To a question on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's three-day 'Sadbhavana' fast that ended on Monday and Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani's proposed yatra against corruption, he said anyone in the country can go on fast.

"I wish these fasts were helpful in addressing the lakhs of poor people who are on fast," he said.