DMK to skip PM dinner

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The DMK relations with the Congress hit the bottom with party president M. Karunanidhi attributing, albeit indirectly, his poll debacle to the ally’s coercive methods in squeezing out too many seats in the recent Assembly elections.

After holding long deliberations with senior party functionaries, including sons M.K. Stalin and M.K. Alagiri, and general secretary K. Anbazhagan, at his house, the DMK chief issued an eight-page statement late night declaring that his family and the party were innocent and would come out unscathed despite the machinations of ‘vengeful conspirators’.

More important, the DMK top brass took the decision to skip the tea party of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday.

“After deliberating this question for long, it was decided to keep off the Delhi party. We cannot celebrate when Kanimozhi is in jail and thalaivar is shattered,” a DMK senior told this newspaper.

He said Karunanidhi would fly to Delhi on Monday morning to see his daughter when she is brought to the court from Tihar jail. “This is the situation as of now. Things may change tomorrow,” added the DMK functionary.

In his statement, Karu-nanidhi reiterated that Kanimozhi was innocent in the 2G scam and had become a victim of ‘vengeful conspirators’.

She was denied bail and sent to jail even after her counsel Ram Jethmalani explained to the court that she should not be held responsible for the day-to-day administration of Kalaignar TV just because she was a shareholder.

In fact, Kanimozhi had agreed to invest her share of Rs 2 crore, got out of the Rs 100 crore received by his family for moving out of Sun TV, only due to his compulsion.

“Only I compelled Kani-mozhi to become a share-holder in Kalaignar TV. She did so only to satisfy me even though she did not relish that idea herself. She did no other crime,” Karunanidhi said.

“Vengeful conspirators took revenge against my family and me. They want to destroy even the places where I live and where our flag flies. There is vendetta against DMK from Hima-layas to Kanyakumari but we will survive,” said the former chief minister, claiming that he had “never tried to acquire wealth by illegal means.”