TN Cong taunts Modi on alliance, says no takers for his invite

Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his party was open to alliances for the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress' Tamil Nadu unit Wednesday took potshots at him, saying there were no takers for his invite.

On the contrary, parties were only walking out of the NDA alliance, Tamil Nadu Congress president Su Thirunavukkarasar said.

"Prime Minister Modi may keep the door open. But no party is prepared to get inside... be it in Tamil Nadu or in the rest of the country, there is no single party which has accepted his invite and joined hands with the BJP," he told reporters.

Modi, during an interaction with Tamil Nadu party workers recently had said the BJP cherished its old friends. He had said the BJP was open to alliances following the path of Atal Bihari Vajpayee who had successfully built coalitions respecting regional aspirations.

The prime minister had also stressed the importance of connecting with the people to win polls.

While the DMK had said it would not align with the BJP, the saffron party's state unit mocked at the Dravidian party, saying Modi's remark was not an invite for it.

Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) leader Upendra Kushwaha had last month quit the NDA and resigned his post as Union minister of State, while the Asom Gana Parishad walked out of the alliance in Assam over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill row.

A list of names for about six committees to carry out election-related work, including those for propaganda and selection of candidates, has been sent to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi who would announce the poll panels for the party in Tamil Nadu, Thirunavukkarasar said.

The Congress leader described the alliance between his party and DMK in Tamil Nadu as robust.