Wednesday, April 27, 2011

DMK backs Kanimozhi, to fight chargesheet battle legally

CHENNAI: The DMK on Wednesday expressed surprise that chief minister and party president M Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi and the Kalaingar TV managing director Sharad Kumar have been named in the CBI chargesheet in the 2G spectrum case and said there was an attempt to defame the DMK and its leader. This was part of a key resolution passed by the party's high-level committee which met this morning.

Going soft on its ally, the Congress, the DMK resolution said, "We will face the case legally. There is an attempt to defame the DMK and its leader M Karunanidhi." It also hit out at the media and some political parties for trying to break the UPA alliance through their "false campaign" against the party. "The party is aware of this kind of smear campaign and it will take legal action in this issue," it added.

Earlier, in a show of support, Karunanidhi went to his CIT Colony residence in the city where his daughter lives, picked her up and arrived at the Anna Arivalayam, the DMK headquarters at 10.10am, to take part in the meeting. Besides Karunanidhi, his daughter Kanimozhi, his two sons, MK Alagiri and MK Stalin, and grandnephew Dayanidhi
Maran, are all members of the DMK's 30-member high-level committee.

Later, talking to the media, Karunnaidhi said, "Our legal team will decide on moving anticipatory bail (for Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar). We are not like Jayalalithaa (who is facing a couple of corruption cases). We will face it." To a query, he said, "It is not an embarrassment for the party and we will never face embarrassment."

The resolution, among four passed by the DMK's high decision-making body, said ever since the 2G scam broke out, "efforts are on to tarnish the image of the DMK by the media houses". And on that basis, it is being made into a political issue and creating differences between the UPA allies. "There are innumerable efforts to break the
alliance. Certain parties and leaders along with the media are keen to ensure the removal of chief minister from his position and this is clear from the questions they raise and the articles they publish," the resolution said.

While the new development has shaken the DMK leadership and could even further strain Congress-DMK relations, the party has put up a brave front and sought to handle the issue pragmatically. With prospects in the just-concluded assembly elections still unknown (counting for five state elections, including Tamil Nadu, are scheduled for May 13), the DMK would not like to jeopardise its position in the power dispensation at the Centre. Though Karunanidhi's initial reaction was to snap ties with the Congress, reliable sources told TOI, that his sons cautioned restraint, pointing out the recklessness in such a move especially when results in the state elections could well go against the party.

For two days, a worried Karunanidhi held discussions with the party's top leaders and a battery of leading lawyers on the implications of the CBI chargesheet. There were no official statements from the party and Karunanidhi also declined to talk to the media on the issue until today. The normally media friendly Kanimozhi too confined herself to her house and refused to take calls or interact with her journalist friends. After the meeting today, when media threw questions at her, a composed Kanmiozhi, merely said, "Our leader will speak to you in detail. We will face it legally."

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