In a move which took political circles by surprise, DMK president M Karunanidhi has come out in open to praise the “non-communal” BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi.
Speaking exclusively to Dinamalar, a Tamil daily on Thursday, Karunanidhi said: “The hectic election campaign by Modi shows he is a hard worker. He is also a good friend of mine.”
But the DMK chief played it safe when he was asked about a resolution adopted by the party during its State Conference on February 15-16 against aligning with “communal” parties.
When asked whether this resolution was adopted with the BJP in mind, Karunanidhi shot back: “Are you terming the BJP as a communal organisationIJ”
When asked whether there was any possibility of a tie-up between the BJP and the DMK after the lok Sabha elections, Karunanidhi said, “I cannot speculate and tell what will be the situation after the lok Sabha election.” with ‘non-communal’ BJP
What is of interest is that the Dinamalar is known for its anti-DMK stance. Why Karunanidhi chose Dinamalar to heap praise on Modi and why he refused to get into “communal” debate, have generated lot of interest among political observers.
Karunanidhi had also waxed eloquence on Modi in another interview in a daily in December last year. “My personal opinion is Narendra Modi is a good person and has taken care of the development of his State. He has proved his capabilities as an administrator in Gujarat where the people have elected him repeatedly,” he told the newspaper.
TKS Elangovan, MP and official spokesman of the DMK told The Pioneer that Karunanidhi does not criticise anybody personally. “Our opposition to the BJP is on political issues,” he said.
Elangovan clarified that those who think the DMK came out of the Vajpayee-led NDA Government in 2004 because of Gujarat riots are mistaken. According to Elangovan, the DMK came out of the BJP-led NDA in 2004 because of its differences on the issue of POTA.
“We were opposed to the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2002 enacted by Indian Parliament in 2002. Many State Governments including the Jayalalithaa-led Tamil Nadu Government started misusing the POTA. leaders like Vaiko and Nedumaran were arrested unnecessarily and sent to prison. The DMK came out of the NDA because of its opposition to POTA,” Elangovan said.
The Tiruchirappalli Conference of the party has set pre-conditions to those interested in entering into alliance with the DMK. “Only secular political parties who are ready to implement the Sethusamudram Shipping Channel project stand to gain the support of the DMK,” said the main resolution.
What was of interest was that Karunanidhi did not utter a single word criticising either Narendra Modi or the BJP in his address to party workers who had assembled from all over the State and left the task to his alliance partners and minions like Thol Thirumavalavan (VCK), MH Jowahirullah (MMK, an Islamic outfit) and K Veeramani (DK).
