Chennai: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president M Karunanidhi said today (Dec 30, 2003) that the call from Congress chief Sonia Gandhi could be taken as a beginning for the formation of a new alliance for the coming Lok Sabha polls.

"I consider the call as the beginning for the formation of a new alliance. She congratulated me for walking out of the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) besides conveying her New Year greetings," Karunanidhi told newsmen tonight.

Though initially he said that he would "not object" if newsmen interpreted the call from Sonia Gandhi as the beginning for the formation of a new alliance, but towards the fag end of the brief interaction with newsmen, he stated categorically that the call could be taken as the beginning for the formation of a new alliance.