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Chidambaram meets Sonia

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JAN. 6 . The former Congressman and leader of the Congress Janayaga Peravai leader, P. Chidambaram, met the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, here this evening.

Coming as it does at a time when the Congress is scouting for possible allies for putting together a secular front against the BJP, the discussion between Mr. Chidambaram and Ms. Gandhi gave rise to speculation of a possible alliance or even the return of the former Congressman to the party.

Mr. Chidambaram, who was a Minister in both the Rajiv Gandhi and P. V. Narasimha Rao governments, parted ways with the Congress in 1996 when it sought to forge an alliance with the AIADMK, and joined the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) floated by the veteran Congressman, G. K. Moopanar. When the TMC chose to align with the AIADMK in the last Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu in 2001, Mr. Chidambaram once again broke company and formed his party, which is today an ally of the DMK with two MLAs in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.

For some time now, the Congress has been making overtures to Mr. Chidambaram who was a close associate of Rajiv Gandhi, but nothing had materialised till date. Now that there is a thaw in the Congress' relations with the DMK after the latter decided to pull its Ministers out of the Vajpayee Government, Mr. Chidambaramtoo may make similar moves, andtoday's meeting is being seen as a step in this direction.

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