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Karunanidhi told reporters at the DMK headquarters that the MDMK was welcome to leave the alliance and that his party would not stand in their way.
''We are not going to give them more (number of seats) than what we have offered. They are telling a lie that we have broken an assurance to them,'' he said.
MDMK general secretary Vaiko had said that the DMK, which had assured the party of giving 21 seats of its choice, had ''in fact given only 12 seats identified by us.''
Karunanidhi reiterated that the MDMK was allotted seats from the list of 43 constituencies originally identified and submitted by that party.
Even if an agreement was reached in this context, it was doubtful if the two parties could fight the election together with mutual trust, Karunanidhi maintained.
Vaiko had been holding consultations with party functionaries on the course of action to be taken, even as MDMK workers held demonstrations at the party office against the raw deal given to the party by the DMK.
Some cadres had been demanding severance of ties with the DMk and had even put up posters in this regard.
The DMK had allotted 21 seats to the MDMK, after taking back two of 23 seats offered to the Bharatiya Janata Party earlier.
There had been squabbling between the DMK and the MDMK on seat-sharing in the last Lok Sabha elections too, but tension eased subsequently.
Karunanidhi explained that the MDMK had been allotted 18 seats from the list it had submitted. The remaining three seats could not be given as they had been allotted to other allies.
Therefore, three other seats were offered in lieu of those the party had asked for.
A visibly frustrated Karunanidhi asked the media not to speculate when the fight (between the DMK and the MDMK) would end.
On the possibility of a rapproachment, he pointed out that the MDMK cadres were holding demonstrations, pasting posters all over the city and also demanding that they go it alone in the elections.
Even if there is a patch-up, it is doubtful if they will be able to fight the elections with the same trust they shared earlier, he said.
UNI
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