Despite DMK chief M Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi getting re-elected to Rajya Sabha today with its support, Congress said it would be "too premature" to say that the Dravidian party is returning to the UPA.
"We have exercised our choice. We are happy that a candidate supported by us has won," party General Secretary Ajay Maken told reporters after Kanimozhi's win.
Maken's refrain was, "You should not read much into this development. It will unfold as time comes. We go issue by issue. Things will unfold as time comes. It is too premature."
45-year-old Kanimozhi, an accused in the 2G scam, sailed through the contest for a second term with 31 votes after five Congress' MLAs voted in her favour along with two votes each from two smaller parties--Puthiya Thamizhagam and Manithaneya Munnetrak Katchi. One vote of the DMK combine is understood to have been held invalid.
The Congress decision came as a surprise against the backdrop of the bitter separation between the two parties after nine years of friendship in the UPA coalition earlier this year.
Four AIADMK candidates, including the party leader in Rajya Sabha V Maitreyan and CPI's D Raja, however, registered comfortable wins as expected in the elections for which voting was held for the first time in 17 years.
CPI leader D Raja, for whom AIADMK had extended support, won with 34 votes. He has also been reelected for a second term to the Rajya Sabha.
