CHENNAI: By announcing that the candidate list of the DMK would be released on March 16, party president and leader of the Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) M Karunanidhi on Monday virtually set March 15 as the deadline for the Congress to finalise the identification of constituencies it would contest from.
The Congress has said it wanted its list of constituencies to be released first. The list of seats to be contested by the DMK, the Congress, the PMK, the VCK, the KNMK, the IUML, the MMK and the Perunthalaivar Makkal Katchi would be announced on March 15, as these parties cannot afford any more delay.
But on Monday too, the Congress belied the hopes of its own cadre as well as those of others in the DMK-led front. Mediapersons, who waited at the DMK headquarters for 12 straight hours, had pinned their hopes on TNCC president KV Thangkabalu's promise on March 13 that Congress leaders would turn up to sign the agreement for the finalisation of constituencies.
While there was no word from the Congress, sources said they were waiting for the nod from the Delhi high command to the fresh offer made by the DMK on Sunday night.
The five-member committee of the DMK came to Anna Arivalayam in the morning and left after some time. In the evening, PMK leaders, led by president G K Mani, held a 100-minute discussion with the DMK team, led by Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin. Mani told mediapersons that the talks were cordial and that Karunanidhi would release the list soon.
Meanwhile, the DMK chief, in his letter to the cadre said except for a couple of constituencies, all issues had e been sorted out with alliance parties and the final list would be out by Tuesday.
Karunanidhi would be releasing the party's election manifesto on March 19 - the day the filing of nominations for the Assembly election begins. A day prior to that, he would chair a meeting of leaders of all partners of the DPA to discuss the election strategy.
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