In his first public comments on the DMK-Congress alliance after the arrest of Ms Kanimozhi, DMK MP and daughter of former Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi, an UPA ally, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Saturday that “as of now the DMK is our partner and there is no change in it”.

The huge build-up to the Obama visit on November 6 notwithstanding, sources have indicated that the US President could announce a lifting of restrictions on some dual-use technologies during his forthcoming visit but the big ticket defence deals are still being worked on in the run-up to the visit.