CHENNAI, Dec 10: A group of Congress men here today called for an alliance with the AIADMK in the coming Lok Sabha elections even as the TNCC president K V Thangkabalu urged all secular parties to support the Congress in the elections.

In a signed statement to Congress president Sitaram Kesri, the 26-strong group led by former union minister R Prabhu, said the AIADMK-Congress alliance was the need of the hour as it had been formalised by late Indira Gandhi and M G Ramachandran and nurtured by late Rajiv Gandhi and AIADMK general secretary Jayalalitha.

The group claimed that the alliance had seen the test of time and had worked satisfactorily during the last four Lok Sabha elections. . Jayalalitha had said earlier in the day that if Congress approached her formally, the party's executive would consider it.

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