“Karunamidhi valued partner”

(February 05, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Congress Party in India on Monday said Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi is a valued coalition partner and there is no question of any communication gap. Replying to questions on the Congress’ criticism of Mr Karunanidhi for being soft towards LTTE activities and the DMK chief’s reply allegedly saying that the Congress is trying to topple his government, AICC spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said, “Karunanidhi is a valued coalition partner and there is absolutely no question of any communication gap, real or imagined. There is no question of differences. Whatever issue is there, if at all it is there, will be completely and totally sorted out between valued mutual partner. And it requires neither comment nor interference from outside.”

On former Union minister K. Natwar Singh’s criticism of external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee’s statement on the Indo-US nuclear deal, he said whatever Mr Mukherjee had said was within the framework of the agreement between the UPA and the Left in the matter. “He (Mr Mukherjee) is already the chairman of the coordinating mechanism between the Left and the UPA. He has expressed his views in a lecture. There is no occasion for me to comment on his views,” he told reporters. “Obviously, whatever he has said is along the lines of the agreement between the Left and the UPA, under which negotiations are going on at an advanced stage with the IAEA,” Mr Singhvi said and added that the exact status quo, as per the agreement between the Left and the UPA, remains.

Meanwhile, the Congress released its first list of four Candidates for the Tripura Assembly elections. Ms Mira Das has been fielded from Salgarh (SC) constituency while Mr Brajendra Mog Choudhary will contest from Jolaibari (ST) constituency. Sukha Ranjan Das is the candidate from Surma (SC) constituency while Radhika Ranjan Das has been nominated to contest from Panisagar.