CHENNAI: The Congress on Saturday sent its star firefighter, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, to Chennai to smooth things over with DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi. Mukherjee emerged from Karunanidhi’s Gopalapuram residence with the message that all was well with the DMK-Congress alliance, after tainted textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran resigned from the Union Cabinet on Thursday.Mukherjee’s visit was meant to clear the air between the two allies on whether the DMK would get a replacement for Maran in the upcoming Cabinet reshuffle. Just hours after Maran’s resignation, Karunanidhi stated that his party would not pursue a Cabinet berth. But a source close to the Congress high command told Express that a senior DMK leader had been lobbying for a berth and this had led to some confusion.He sought to play down the meeting. “This is my first visit to Chennai after the Assembly elections. I took the opportunity of calling on him (Karunanidhi) to explain the current political scenario,” said Mukherjee.A senior leader in the DMK said all discussions between the DMK and Congress on the Cabinet berths had already taken place and that Mukherjee’s meeting was only routine. “All decisions that had to be made had been made when Maran tendered his resignation. You will find out soon,” said the leader, on the condition of anonymity.
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