Suddenly modifying his travel plans as per which he was to leave for Thiruvarur early on Saturday to take part in a family function there, the 76-year-old DMK patriarch instead chose to drive down with his wife, Dayalu, and other top party functionaries to meet Gandhi at the Chennai old airport.
It was a brief stopover for Gandhi, who was en route to Tiruchirappalli for a major Congress rally there on Saturday. But the anxious DMK chief took the opportunity to drive home an “I-am-ok-you-are-ok” message, taking political circles here by surprise.
Leaders of the two parties hardly spent 10 minutes together at the airport lounge with Karunanidhi and his son M K Stalin, imparting a personal touch to their reception to let the world know that all was well with the alliance. Party men on both sides attached considerable significance to this unscheduled meeting here, as it came a day after AIADMK leader J Jayalalitha’s appeal to the Congress to do some soul-searching on continuing its alliance with a “corrupt” DMK.
Published 09 October 2010, 19:09 IST