Congress and PMK to fight only in Puducherry

CHENNAI: Erstwhile allies Congress and the PMK may have ended up in rival camps for Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu but on the ground, they will be facing each other only in Puducherry.

The DMK did not give the Congress seats, which are allotted to PMK by the AIADMK, after the Ramadoss-led front left UPA to embrace the Jayalalithaa-headed alliance.

Congress' all out efforts to retain PMK in the UPA had come a cropper, as neither the PMK nor the DMK was inclined at being on the same side.

In Puducherry, the ruling Congress will field a candidate after a five-year gap. DMK allotted the seat to PMK in 2004 election, when DMK, Congress, PMK, MDMK and Left parties were on the same side of the fence.

PMK will face its friendly party, Viduthalai Chirutaigal Katchi (VCK) at Chidambaram (SC), where VCK leader Tol Thirumavalavan will be trying his luck for a second time. In 2004, he contested on his own and garnered more than two lakh votes to lose against PMK nominee E Ponnusamy.

Another seat allotted to VCK is Villupuram (SC), considered the PMK bastion. Tindivanam, the native town of PMK founder S Ramadoss, falls under the seat.