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'Why not an open-door alliance policy'

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI June 16. The DMK president, M.Karunanidhi, yesterday said his party would reconsider continuing in the National Democratic Alliance, only if the ruling coalition did not adhere to the national agenda of governance, agreed to by all partners.

Ruling out the possibility of severing ties with the BJP at this juncture, he said the reconsideration would happen only if there were differences in policies.

``We did not join the alliance by insisting that one partner or the other should not praise some other party,'' he said when asked if it was right on the part of the BJP to praise the AIADMK. Asked if the BJP was moving closer to the AIADMK, he said that this was not something which happened today or yesterday. ``This has been going on for a long time.''

Asked about his `open' door policy on alliances, Mr. Karunanidhi asked why the door should not be kept open. ``The door can be kept open either for a friend to come in or for a friend to go out,'' he said.

On Ms. Jayalalithaa's criticism of the Pope, he said that this needed to be condemned.

The Pope's opinion was not anti-national. He had only commented on the anti-defection law. The controversy surrounding the filming of Sandiyar was unnecessary. Whoever violated the law, be it the person filming it or those were trying to disrupt it, should be dealt with sternly, he said.

Asked about the police searches in his son, Azhagiri's shops and residence, he said it was just politics indulged in by the ruling party.

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