Is DMK evasive about Cong deal?

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It is reliably learnt that the DMK was evasive about committing itself to sharing power with the Congress. The DMK had told finance minister Pranab Mukherjee that the issue of Cabinet berths could be taken up after the polls. Also, the DMK was not forth coming in deciding the number of seats it could give the Congress. During the last Assembly polls in 2006, the Congress had contsted 48 seats and won 35.
Short of any guarantee from the DMK, sources said the Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi was hesitant to meet the DMK chief Karunanidhi on Monday afternoon. As a consequence of the postponement of the meeting, news began to spread that there was a deadlock between the two parties. Unnerved by it, the DMK resorted to a damage-control exercise and conveyed to the Congress high command that if the meeting between the two did not take place that will send a wrong message to the electorate and demoralise the cadres. Senior DMK leader T.R. Balu pulled every string to ensure that the meeting takes place. As a prelude to the meeting between the presidents of the two parties, Mr Balu met Congress leader Ahmed Patelt wice during the course of the day. Earlier in the day, Dr Karunanidhi called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and discussed the issue of Tamil Nadu’s fishermen getting attacked by the Sri Lankan Navy and requested the Centre to release `1,832 crores from the National Disaster Relief Fund towards relief and restoration works of the damages caused by the monsoon rains.
Later in the evening, Union home minister P. Chidambaram and shipping minister G.K. Vasan called on Dr Karunanidhi. AIADMK’s Jayalalithaa too pitched in and attempted to fish in troubled waters by declaring that she would bring in the 18 MPs that DMK has, should the Congress decide to dump its alliance partner.