Karuna meets daughter Kanimozhi in jail, PC meets him at hotel

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An emotional M. Karunanidhi on Monday met his daughter and DMK MP Kanimozhi, arrested in the 2G spectrum case, at the Tihar jail here and spent 30 minutes with her. The 87-year-old DMK President drove to the jail at around 5.30pm accompanied by his wife Rajathi Ammal, Kanimozhi's husband Aravindan and grandson Aditya.

Karunanidhi, who arrived here this morning, met Kanimozhi at the deputy jail superintendent's office and spent over 30 minutes with her. Emotions ran high when Karunanidhi and Kanimozhi came face-to-face for the first time ever since she was arrested and sent to jail on Friday last.

"The family members were with Kanimozhi for nearly 30 minutes ... we were not monitoring the meeting," Neeraj Kumar, DG Prisons, Tihar jail, told reporters after the meeting.

It was a complete family affair as Karunanidhi and Rajathi Ammal spent time talking to their daughter in the jail. Rajathi Ammal is camping in New Delhi since Friday.

Karunanidhi and his family members were offered tea by the prison authorities. Sources said it was a ‘very emotional’ meeting and they were not disturbed by the jail authorities during the meeting.

Later, the DMK chief met former Telecom Minister and his trusted colleague A. Raja and Kalaignar TV Managing Director Sharad Kumar, both in jail in connection with the scam.

Karunanidhi's family members were not present at the meeting. After meeting his daughter, Karunanidhi, who was planning to return to Chennai this evening, came back to the hotel where he is staying.

Later, Home Minister and senior Congress leader from Tamil Nadu P. Chidambaram met him.

At the jail, Karunanidhi's car was allowed to go till the entrance of the jail no.6 considering his age. A request in this regard was made by a DMK MP, Kumar said.

Several party MPs and senior DMK leaders also accompanied Karunanidhi to the jail premises but they did not meet Kanimozhi. Billed as purely a ‘personal visit’ by senior DMK leaders, Karunanidhi did not meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi during his day-long stay.

Karunanidhi used to meet Sonia Gandhi whenever he visited New Delhi. It has been the practice ever since the party aligned with Congress in 2004.

Earlier, with tears rolling down her eyes, Union Minister M. K. Alagiri's wife Kanthi met Kanimozhi at a trial court and consoled her.

Kanthi, who arrived here this morning, went to the court along with her son Durai Dayanithi and others to the special CBI court at the Patiala House court complex and they spoke to her for a few minutes.

The DMK chief has been maintaining that his daughter was ‘innocent’.

Karunanidhi had on Saturday in an epistle to party cadres put up a spirited defence of Kanimozhi, saying her only crime was being a shareholder of Kalaignar TV.

"The arrest is a vendetta against DMK and my family ranging from Kanyakumari to Himalayas," Karunanidhi said.

However, the DMK patriarch said he was confident of winning the ‘final war.’