PMK has parted company: Laxman

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 5. The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) hope that the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) crack in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will not develop into a fissure was all but dashed this evening when the party president, Mr. Bangaru Laxman, admitted that the PMK had withdrawn.

The Congress, which has been watching the drama unfold from the sidelines, was of the view that it was the beginning of the process of the ``unholy NDA coalition'' coming unstuck ahead of the Assembly polls in five States, including Tamil Nadu. ``It was an inherently unstable coalition,'' the Congress spokesperson, Mr. Anand Sharma said, refusing to speculate on whether the PMK would join the AIADMK-led front.There is the view that if the PMK were to take to the logical conclusion the resignation of its Ministers from the Vajpayee Government, the next step would be the announcement that it was joining the AIADMK-led front that is beginning to take shape.

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