The already strained relations between the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam and the Left parties hit the nadir on Friday with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK supremo M Karunanidhi stating that Communist Party of India - Marxist leader N Varadharajan's remarks only showed that the Left parties had already decided to walk out of the DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance.

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Replying to a set of questions, Karunanidhi took a dig at the CPI-M state secretary on the latter's remarks that Congress was a 'sinking ship' and that the DMK would bite the dust in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls if it continued to travel along with that party in that 'ship.'

Karunanidhi said the whole country knew how many times the Left leaders, despite knowing that the Congress is a 'sinking ship',' had held talks with the party's leaders in New Delhi [Images] and visited Chennai to ensure that the Left parties did not 'disembark from the ship' till the Centre decided to go ahead with the India-United States nuclear agreement.

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On Varadharajan's remarks that the Congress had lost power in Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh [Images] and Jharkhand due to its anti-people policies, Karunanidhi asked whether the losses suffered by the Congress did not come to their mind while traveling in the sinking ship.

'Was the drubbing received by the Congress in the recent assembly elections in some states the true reason for the Left parties to withdraw support to the government by using Indo-US nuclear deal as a tool,'' he asked.

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Karunanidhi said the fact that Varadharajan chose to make remarks like ''The DMK will sink along with the Congress if it continues to travel in the sinking ship,'' despite his statement in the wake of criticisms by senior DMK leader and Electricity Minister Arcot N Veerasamy, showed that the Left parties had already decided to break away from the DPA.

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''This was crystal clear from the fact that the Left parties had started their anti-DMK campaign in various forms one month back,'' he added.

''I consider Varadharajan's prediction -- that the DMK will also bite the dust along with the Congress -- as his blessings,'' he added caustically.