Pranab Mukherjee with M Karunanidhi in Chennai on Sunday. (PTI)

New Delhi, Oct. 26: Sonia Gandhi and Pranab Mukherjee today persuaded ally DMK to withdraw the threat that its MPS would resign if Delhi did not intervene “decisively” to assuage the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils.

After Colombo made certain concessions to Delhi in talks here this morning, Sonia called up M. Karunanidhi and then sent foreign minister Mukherjee to Chennai to talk to the chief minister.

The DMK’s 16 MPs will not resign, Karunanidhi told a joint news conference with Mukherjee in Chennai. “If we go ahead with the resignations, it will further complicate the political scene (hitting the UPA’s numbers in the House). We do not want to precipitate a crisis.”

Observers termed this a “climbdown”. Colombo made just one important concession today: it would facilitate the distribution of 800 tonnes of relief material that India will send for civilians caught in the army-LTTE crossfire.

So far, Lanka had been set against any humanitarian engagement by India. Delhi, too, had not been over-insistent given the Congress’s reluctance to get enmeshed in any issue involving the LTTE.

Colombo also agreed to have “practical arrangements” to stop harassment of fishermen who unwittingly crossed the maritime boundary – an old DMK demand.

India backed Lankan plans to devolve more powers to the provinces and to find a “peacefully negotiated political settlement” to the rebel problem.

These decisions came at two meetings Mukherjee had this morning with Basil Rajapaksa, MP and special adviser to Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Mukherjee, however, made it clear to Karunanidhi that India could do nothing on the crucial point of reviving the ceasefire in Lanka’s northern and eastern provinces. After all, Delhi had not been party to the ceasefire’s initiation or cessation, the foreign minister told the news conference.

“(But) the Prime Minister and myself have said there is no military solution to the Sri Lankan crisis. It needs to be resolved through dialogue,” Mukherjee said.

Karunanidhi provided his own spin: “The Lankan war was fought over four decades; we cannot end it in four days…. Now there are no impediments to discussing the modalities of a ceasefire. Whether it should be done by India, (or) any other country or organisation, there is no finality.”

DMK sources said Karunanidhi had requested Mukherjee to use his good offices with Colombo to facilitate a ceasefire.

As in past run-ins with the DMK, Sonia mediated this time too, briefing Karunanidhi on the Lanka talks. When it seemed he was not “fully convinced”, she sent Mukherjee to Chennai.

Sources said Sonia’s mediation was a message to Tamil Nadu Congress leaders not to embarrass the DMK on the Lanka issue.