Is Mr M. Karunanidhi opting out of the chief ministerial race in the coming Assembly polls? Fuelling fresh speculation about his retirement plans, chief minister Karunanidhi said his DMK cadres like him more as the party president than as CM.
“And so, I may take that decision soon,” he said on Monday during a marriage function to which Union home minister and senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram was a special invitee.
Solemnising the wedding of HR&CE minister K.R. Periyakaruppan’s son in Chennai, Mr Karunanidhi surprised the audience, including his sons M.K. Stalin and M.K. Alagiri, by saying that the cadre would like him to be their leader rather than the CM and he would take a decision on that soon. The wheelchair-bound Mr Karunanidhi’s “untimely” remarks assume significance in the backdrop of the party general council meeting on February 3 to chalk out a strategy for the ensuing Assembly polls. However, the DMK cadres are not taking his remarks seriously.