New Delhi, June 27: DMK chief M. Karunanidhi today sent telegrams to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi asking them to “strictly adhere” to the common minimum programme.

The DMK chief also iterated his plea to the Singh government, while addressing journalists in Chennai.

Karunanidhi’s missive comes a day after the Left announced its decision to stay away from coordination committee meetings with the central coalition, protesting the Congress’s deviation from the CMP.

The letters to Singh and Sonia have been sent in the wake of trenchant criticism, by chief minister Jayalalithaa, of the recent hike in fuel prices. The Centre has hiked petroleum prices thrice since the Congress-led coalition came to power last year, Jayalalithaa has maintained.

At all her public meetings, the ADMK chief makes it a point to criticise the “unpopular” decisions of the central government, which has 12 ministers from Tamil Nadu, to put the DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance in the state in a spot.

Karunanidhi, who had last week defended the government’s decision to hike the prices of petroleum products, today said he was not in favour of it.

However, he added, although the hike was “unavoidable”, it was for the state governments to reduce the sales tax on petrol and diesel to ease the burden on the people.

The DMK, PMK and MDMK are part of the Congress-led government, unlike the Left parties which are offering outside support. The DMK has three cabinet ministers ? Dayanidhi Maran, T.R. Baalu and A. Raja ? and they were party to decisions like divestment of 10 per cent equity in Bhel taken by the cabinet.

Karunanidhi, in his telegrams, said the Congress-led government at the Centre need not have any misunderstanding with the Left on CMP. “As we have all accepted earlier, I request you to strictly adhere to the national CMP”.