DMK chief M Karunanidhi sees nothing wrong in his party seeking the help of the Congress in the biennial election held to Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu recently. MK Kanimozhi, Karunanidhi’s daughter by his third wife won the June 27 election because of the support extended by the Congress. Karunanidhi had deputed TR Baalu, to meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi pleading to help Kanimozhi in the election.
Following widespread criticism against the DMK for pleading with the Congress to bail out Kanimozhi, the DMK chief released a statement on Tuesday justifying his request to Gandhi. “We withdrew support to the UPA Government over the Sri lankan Tamil issue. The lankan Tamil problem and the candidature of Kanimozhi in the Rajya Sabha election are two different issues. One should not mix these two. Hence it is wrong to interpret as opportunistic our request to the Congress to support Kanimozhi,” said Karunanidhi.
He said the DMK approached the Congress for support when it was found that there was no other parties to help Kanimozhi win the election. “The charge that we sought the help of the Congress itself is a wrong interpretation. We had approached the CPI(M), PMK, and the DMDK requesting them to extend support to Kanimozhi. But the CPI(M) opted to support the CPI candidate while the PMK decided to boycott the election. The DMDK fielded their own candidate and we did not had any other option,” said Karunanidhi.
The DMK chief was at pains to convince the party cadre that there was no tie-up with the Congress for the lok Sabha election. “We have not taken any official decision with regard to a tie-up with the Congress for the lok Sabha election,” he said. Karunanidhi pointed out that Minister of State in the PMO K Narayanasamy has said that the Congress party high command would take a decision on the party’s tie-up with the DMK for the lok Sabha election.