DMK says talk on withdrawing ministers speculative

Chennai: The DMK Friday dismissed as speculation media reports that it planned to quit the central government.

DMK leader and former cabinet minister T.R. Baalu said the meeting scheduled Friday evening would discuss last month's elections that led to the ouster of the DMK government in Tamil Nadu.

'This is the first time a meeting of the DMK's high level body has been convened after the election results,' Baalu told IANS.

Asked about media reports that DMK would yank its ministers out of the central government and offer outside legislative support, Baalu said: 'The media can speculate anything.'

The DMK's 18 Lok Sabha members offer crucial support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government in New Delhi. The DMK has seven ministers in the Manmohan Singh government.

The meeting at the party headquarters will be chaired by DMK president M. Karunanidhi.

This is the second time the party leadership is meeting in just two months.

They met April 27 after DMK MP and Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi was chargesheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as co-conspirator in the 2G spectrum scam.