The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Tuesday dismissed reports of the Congress wanting former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to be elected to the Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu.
Dr Singh, whose Rajya Sabha term is ending in June next year, would not be able to re-elected from Assam, where the Congress does not have numbers.
A section of media reported that Congress has floated the idea of Dr Singh be nominated from Tamil Nadu, where six RS vacancies will arise in July next year to its ally DMK. However, DMK chief MK Stalin was not keen to accept the idea as he was worried about a possible backlash considering that the final phase of the bloody war between LTTE and Sri Lanka happened during Dr Singh's tenure as Prime Minister.
DMK Organising secretary and Rajya Sabha MP RS Bharathi dismissed the report as a rumour. "This is totally a false news. Congress did not approach us with any such demand," he told DNA.
The state will see six Rajya Sabha vacancies in July. Four AIADMK MPs including V Maitreyan, DMK's Kanimozhi, and CPI's D Raja term will end. "DMK will be able to elect three members out of the six," Bharathi said.
Another DMK leader and Rajya Sabha MP TKS Elangovan said that no talks were held between DMK and Congress with regard to Dr Singh's nomination from the state. He called the news reports as far-fetched since the RS election would happen in July next year after the Lok Sabha polls.
A Congress leader from Tamil Nadu, on condition of anonymity, noted that when Kanimozhi was renominated in 2013 for the RS, the Congress extended support to the DMK even though the Dravidian party walked out of the United Progressive Alliance over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue.
"We are now in alliance with the DMK and we have eight MLAs in the Assembly. So there is nothing wrong in seeking an RS seat for Congress," the leader from Southern Tamil Nadu said, adding that he was not aware of any demand made by Congress high command for nominating Dr Singh from Tamil Nadu.
