CHENNAI: All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leaders have denied that the Sri Lankan issue had anything to do with the break-up of the alliance with the Dalit Panthers of India.

Reacting to DPI general secretary Thol.Thirumavalavan's remark that the party's unequivocal solidarity with the Sri Lankan Tamils might have led to its exit from the AIADMK-led front, an AIADMK functionary said: "If that were true, then how does he explain the continuance of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) in the alliance?"

With AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa dubbing the DPI move hasty and impulsive, there is a feeling that a communication gap might have created misunderstanding. Mr. Thirumavalavan had said that he did not know why his party was "eased out," though it had bent over backwards while accepting all conditions laid down by the AIADMK on seat sharing. Mutual mistrust, particularly in the wake of two DPI MLAs commending the Chief Minister for certain decisions of the Government, might have become a sore point, as indicated by Mr.Thirumavalavan. He had alleged that all his efforts to save the DPI's ties with the AIADMK by sorting out differences did not fructify, due to the "inaccessibility" of Ms. Jayalalithaa.

Following opposition from DPI activists in as many as 10 districts to the party leadership's decision to accept just 4 per cent of the seats against the allocation of 17.5 per cent for the MDMK, and with the two party MLAs slowly drifting towards the DMK, he had to take a quick decision before the situation slipped out of his control, a party member said. Almost all key DPA constituents have welcomed the DPI's decision. They feel that the DPI's exit from the rival camp is another indication that the AIADMK is getting further isolated.

Without hesitation, the DMK handed out two posts of municipal chairperson, besides offering some wards to the DPI in the local bodies from its share.

But the local body elections are going to be a litmus test for the compatibility of the coming together of the DPI and the PMK for the first time in the same electoral front. All these years they had been fighting the elections by positioning themselves in rival camps.

Though the parties began sharing a platform under the banner of the Tamil Protection Movement after the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, they parted ways before the 2006 Assembly elections. The DPI had then accused the DMK leadership of posing obstacles to the unity of Dalits and Vanniars.

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