In a clear indication of the widening rift between the DMK and Congress, the Dravidian party’s chief M. Karunanidhi will visit New Delhi on Monday to meet his jailed MP daughter Kanimozhi, whose arrest and prosecution in the 2G scam has angered the party, but is unlikely to meet Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
“I will be going to Tihar Jail to see my daughter Kanimozhi, (Kalaignar TV managing director) Sarath Kumar and (former Union communications and IT minister) Raja,” the former chief minister told reporters when asked if he would be visiting the national capital on Monday. Asked if there was any likelihood of his meeting Mrs Gandhi, he said, “I think there won’t be any opportunity (to meet her).”
All three have been lodged in Tihar Jail for their role in the 2G scam. Mr Karuna-nidhi is expected to meet them when they are produced before a Central Bureau of Investigation special court hearing the case.
Asked about the DMK’s ties with the Congress in the aftermath of the Assembly election debacle, the CM replied, “It is not like what you think.” He did not elaborate.
The DMK is the third largest constituent in the UPA coalition with 18 MPs. Relations between the DMK and the Congress have been strained over various issues including the probe of the 2G scam and the poll fiasco of the DMK-led front for which Mr Karunanidhi blamed the Congress.
DMK parliamentary party chief T.R. Baalu attended the UPA’s second anniversary dinner hosted at Prime Minister Manmohan Sin-gh’s residence Sunday evening.
However, all the six DMK ministers at the Centre skipped the function.
In a report released before the dinner, the Congress-led government promised to “hit hard against corruption” and to punish all those guilty of scams. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, releasing ‘Government of the UPA: Report to the People’ together with Mrs Gandhi, pledged that those guilty in scams will be punished and that “steps would be taken to prevent such scams in the future”.
Mrs Gandhi said, “We will take corruption head-on and demonstrate through actions, not words, that we mean what we say.”
On the economy, Dr Singh said the country witnessed an unprecedented 8.5 per cent average growth from 2004-05 to 2010-11 despite the global financial crisis and described the performance in agriculture as “particularly satisfying”.
He also noted that while food inflation was a major concern in the last financial year, the government was taking measures to address it. Mr Baalu came to New Delhi from Chennai in the evening after a high-level DMK meeting in Chennai presided over by Mr Karu-nanidhi.