Karuna cold shoulders Sonia

Karunanidhi is in Delhi on what has been described as a “personal visit”. This was the first occasion since becoming political allies that the two leaders had not met.

Karunanidhi, who is 87 and weak in health, had met Kanimozhi in  the Tihar Jail on Monday. The meeting was emotional with both Karunanidhi and the daughter breaking down. Karunanidhi’s son M K Stalin also reached Delhi. Karunanidhi extended his stay by a day to hear the verdict on Kanimozhi’s bail plea. Stalin’s meeting with his sister was also emotional.

Stalin, accompanied by party MP T R Balu,  met Kanimozhi and A Raja and spent 40 minutes with them.

Karunanidhi’s visit to Delhi, which comes more than a week after the DMK’s drubbing at the hands of the rival AIADMK in the recent Tamil Nadu Assembly electionns, was closely followed by the media.

Congress leaders tried reaching out to the DMK patriarch to clear the air and to ensure all was well between the alliance partners. On Monday night, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram called on the DMK leader, while Congress in-charge for Tamil Nadu affairs Gulam Nabi Azad and party spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan met Karunanidhi on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters after meeting the DMK chief, Azad said Kanimozhi’s arrest “is unlikely to affect the DMK-Congress alliance.” However, he also made it clear that the government would not interfere  in the 2G spectrum case.

“All these goings-on (in the 2G case) have no effect on the DMK-Congress alliance and is unlikely to shake the ties in future.  (Karunanidhi) is a man of political understanding. He knows well that the Supreme Court is monitoring the case and a special court is  looking into it (the 2G case),” Azad said.

The Congress leader stressed the importance of understanding Karunanidhi’s pains and said Sonia was also concerned about Kanimozhi. “Our leader Sonia Gandhiji is concerned because Kanimozhi being a woman is in jail and it is a matter of concern and in fact one can’t do anything,” Azad said.

The Congress sent out a clear indications that it is unlikely to shift its allegiance in Tamil Nadu as it strongly retaliated against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha’s comments on the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

“We are extremely sensitive about the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. No attempt should be made to politicise such a dastardly incident,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said while responding to Jayalalitha’s assertion that the DMK was behind Rajiv’s assassination through its connections with the LTTE.