Chennai, Sep 15 (IANS) DMK president and former Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi Thursday said the party has not snapped its ties with the Congress though it has decided to contest the local body elections next month on its own.

"We have only said that we would go it alone in the local body elections. We are confident of facing the elections on our own," Karunanidhi told reporters here.

He said no one from the Congress has spoken to him after his announcement Wednesday of going it alone in the local body elections.

Karunanidhi said the DMK's latest decision will not impact the ties with the Congress at the national level.

Meanwhile, the state unit of the Congress has called a meeting Friday to discuss the latest development and the strategy to fight the civic polls.

The meeting will be chaired by state Congress chief K.V. Thangkabalu. The party's MPs, members of the Tamil Nadu assembly and other leaders have been invited.

A Congress leader told IANS that the DMK would have taken the decision to avoid the repetition of fighting over seats. During the April assembly elections, the Congress bargained hard to wrest 63 seats from the DMK.

Tamil Nadu Youth Congress leader M. Yuvaraj said: "This is a good opportunity for the party to build itself at the grassroots level in the state. The youth wing will play its part in that."