Cong firefighters burn midnight oil to douse ally fire
Cong firefighters burn midnight oil to douse ally fire
Cong crack team worked overnight to reach a compromise formula with DMK.

New Delhi: The DMK-Congress deadlock showed no signs of resolution on Saturday morning with a sulking Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi leaving Delhi for Chennai.

Once in Chennai, Kaarunanidhi will hold the party's executive meeting to discuss the breakdown in talks over portfolio allocation for the party in the new Government.

On Friday, Congress President Sonia Gandhi held a late night meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to review the situation after its key ally DMK refused to join the Government, and decided to renegotiate the issue of portfolios allotment with the Tamil Nadu ruling party.

The two leaders also held discussions to finalise the council of ministers to be sworn in on Friday.

The nearly three-hour-long meeting that extended beyond midnight at PM's residence reportedly discussed names from both Congress and its pre-poll allies for Cabinet berths and allocation of portfolios to the council of ministers.

Apart from Congress President and the PM, the meeting was attended by Sonia’s Political Secretary Ahmed Patel and National Security Adviser M K Narayanan.

Sources in the Congress said that the meeting decided to further negotiate the portfolios with the DMK leaders over which there were differences of opinion.

There are different versions of how many berths the DMK, which has 18 MPs is demanding, and how many the Congress is willing to give.

The Congress is opposed to the inclusion of T R Baalu and A Raja on grounds of performance and alleged corruption which DMK has sought to contest.

The DMK is learnt to have demanded portfolios like shipping, surface transport, communications and environment.

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