IUML leaves AIADMK front in TN

The Indian Union Muslim League on Saturday quit the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam front in Tamil Nadu.

The party's general secretary, E Ahmed, said, "The IUML is quitting the AIADMK front and is prepared to swim or sink with the DMK."

The IUML had decided to join the DMK the moment the party had come out of the NDA, he said. Ahmed said he had informed senior DMK leader and former Union minister T R Baalu of the decision.

Earlier in the day Ahmed, along with IUML's Tamil Nadu unit president Khader Moinuddin, met DMK chief M Karunanidhi and discussed the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. Baalu and DMK treasurer Arcot N Veerasamy were also present at the meeting.

Congratulating Karunanidhi for breaking off from the NDA, Ahmed said, "The IUML feels happy and safe after its traditional ally DMK came out of the NDA." Describing the 30-minute meeting as 'warm, cordial and fruitful', Ahmed said he hoped that 'a wider secular front, which included [the] Congress, will emerge'.

Hailing Karunanidhi as the most respected minority leader in the state, he said the IUML had parted company with the DMK, its traditional ally, only because it had joined hands with the BJP.