Chennai, February 12 Joining the issue with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, Congress MP Manickam Tagore, a strong advocate of the "share-power with us" approach, questioned on Thursday how that demand could be considered a "conspiracy".
Strongly defending his party's demand, Tagore, without directly referring to Stalin's remarks about sharing power, asked: "How can seeking, in a spirit of friendship, a role (a share) in serving the people be termed as a conspiracy?"
The Congress leader posted this one-line message on social media.
The MP from the Virudhunagar constituency in southern Tamil Nadu also used a "thinking face" emoji, and his reaction to the Chief Minister suggests that the ruling party may not abandon the idea despite DMK chief himself making it clear that there will be no sharing of power.
Amid some apparent strains in ties with the Congress over power-sharing, ruling DMK president and CM Stalin on February 11 asserted that the alliance was "intact", but firmly ruled out accommodating allies in the cabinet.
The CM had said: "We also know that it will not work in Tamil Nadu; they (Congress) know it too. It is a problem created by some people. They are deliberately conspiring to see if there will be a rift in the alliance. We are not worried about it. He (Rahul Gandhi) is not worried either."
On January 11, senior DMK leader and State Minister I Periyasamy had asserted that Stalin is firm on the stand against sharing power with allies.
