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Govt’s stand on US resolution betrays Tamils: DMK
Mar 15th
Chennai: Upping the ante against the Congress-led UPA Government over alleged war crime issue concerning Sri Lanka, DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Wednesday said his party would deem it as a betrayal of Tamils if the Centre does not support the US resolution on Sri Lanka.
Asked if his party would withdraw support to the UPA Government if New Delhi supported Sri Lanka in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), he said that he alone cannot decide on that.
“I cannot decide on that. We will discuss and decide that in the (party) executive,” the DMK patriarch said.
The DMK leader has time and again reiterated his demand for New Delhi backing the resolution with his party MPs raising slogans in this regard during the presidential address to the joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament on Monday.
His daughter and DMK MP Kanimozhi had also taken up the issue in the Rajya Sabha earlier on Wednesday.
DMK bats for Kanimozhi, ignores Raja
Jul 25th
COIMBATORE: The DMK on Sunday condemned the CBI and accused it of acting in a partisan manner, apparently angered by the continued incarceration of Kanimozhi, daughter of the party president M Karunanidhi and an accused in the 2G scandal.
“Kanimozhi, who holds 20 per cent shares in Kalaignar TV and its managing director Sharad Kumar have been kept in jail for long, against the principles of natural justice,” a resolution passed at the general council read. However, there was no mention of the party’s propaganda secretary and former Union Telecom minister A Raja, who has been in jail for an even longer period.
“Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid, former Law Minister Veerappa Moily, BJP leaders Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha have all voiced their resentment over detaining an accused for a prolonged period without being convicted. Even Justice O P Saini, who is hearing the case, had questioned the CBI’s mindset that an accused should remain in jail even during the prosecution,” the resolution said.
However, in the evening, Karunanidhi claimed that the party had not blamed the CBI as an organisation, but only hit out at officers of the CBI who were functioning with an “ulterior motive.”
Meanwhile, in a string of resolutions, the party criticised the State government for seeking to put on hold the implementation of Uniform School Education system, abolition of Anna Universities of Technology, shifting the Secretariat to Fort St George and stopping the work at the new Secretariat.
In another resolution, the general council demanded that action be taken against those members of political parties who were involved in land grabbing, and also called for restoration of poromboke lands in Siruthavur to the Dalit owners. Party treasurer Stalin urged the functionaries to gear up for a major protest as the DMK men were booked under “false charges” of land grabbing. “We should get into direct action and be prepared for a jail bharo agitation,” he allegedly said.
The DMK urged the Centre to immediately intervene and stop the Kerala’s attempt to build a new dam across Mullaiperiyar river. It also wanted judicial proceedings in HCs to be conducted in all official languages.
Source : http://expressbuzz.com/states/tamilnadu/dmk-bats-for-kanimozhi-ignores-raja/297529.html
Karunanidhi, Stalin in spat over Alagiri, Kanimozhi
Jul 16th
CHENNAI: With DMK family members divided in the aftermath of the 2G scam and the assembly poll drubbing, pressure is mounting on party chief M Karunanidhi to change the way DMK is controlled and run. Tensions erupted into a full-blown spat this weekend when the former chief minister left Chennai for a seaside resort following an argument with his younger son and potential successor M K Stalin.
Karunanidhi, usually known to travel with a large entourage of advisors and associates, was only accompanied by his personal secretary K Shanmuganathan, when he left for Mahabalipuram, a resort 40km away. Sources said he packed his bags after a 30-minute altercation with Stalin apparently over the role of his elder son and Union minister MK Alagiri in party politics and daughter Kanimozhi’s involvement in the 2G scam. It ended with Stalin walking out of Anna Arivalayam, the DMK headquarters in the city, in a huff. The rift comes just ahead of a crucial two-day DMK general council meeting beginning July 23 in Coimbatore.
The 87-year-old wheelchair-bound elder, however, returned to the city later in the evening.
Karunanidhi had summoned Stalin to the party HQ to discuss a complaint by members of the DMK women’s wing. Sources said Stalin had kept away from his father for the past week as he was unhappy with his refusal to restructure DMK and elevate him to the top post. “On Thursday, some members of the party’s women’s wing complained to Karunanidhi about Stalin. On being summoned to explain, Stalin is said to have blamed those close to his stepsister, Kanimozhi, and older brother Alagiri for trying to create rift within the family,” said a senior leader. With Karunanidhi defending his daughter and Stalin persisting in his stand, the two are said to have left the party headquarters in an angry mood, said the leader. Later, at his Gopalapuram residence, his older daughter Selvi, is also said to have accused Alagiri of trying to foment trouble within the family.
“In the past, Stalin has never raised his voice against his father,” said a former minister. “But this time, Stalin has become assertive, keen that his father should decide soon on the succession issue,” he added. The succession issue is integral to family dynamics. DMK’s poll defeat and its five-year long hiatus from power within the state is bound to add urgency to it, especially as various factions look to assert themselves in party affairs. Karunanidhi, sources say, is under pressure from the Stalin camp to hand over the reins to his son. But Alagiri supporters are keen for Karunanidhi to continue at the helm, averse to any kind of restructuring at the moment.
The Stalin camp is said to be strategising to get key members of the DMK general council to raise the issue of interference by family members in party affairs. An upset Alagiri is said to have taken up the issue with his father. Also worrying the leadership is the resignation of two key district secretaries. With family members divided over the succession issue and churning within the party rank and file, the DMK general council meet is bound to see some fireworks.
Indian minister Dayanidhi Maran ‘quits over scandal’
Jul 8th
Mr Maran, who belongs to a key ally of the governing Congress party, is the second minister to be embroiled in the scandal over telecoms licences.
His DMK party colleague, former telecoms minister Andimuthu Raja, is already in jail on corruption charges.
The multi-billion dollar scandal has badly hurt the government’s reputation.
India may have lost as much as $39bn in revenue, a sum equivalent to the annual defence budget, the state auditor has said.
Mr Maran is being investigated as part of a broader probe into wrongdoing over a decade.
He has denied allegations that he coerced the founder of the mobile phone firm Aircel to sell off his stake to a firm favoured by the minister.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s second term in office has been hit by a series of corruption scandals that have triggered public anger and paralysed policymaking, diverting the government’s attention from stimulating India’s flagging economy.
Damaged reputation
Mr Maran left the telecommunications ministry in 2007 to be succeeded by Mr Raja and was until Thursday the country’s textiles minister.
Prosecutors have already charged Mr Raja with fraud and forgery in a separate scandal related to the 2008 sale of cellular licences.
That sale, conducted on a first-come, first-served basis, netted India only 124bn rupees ($2.7bn), causing the government to lose billions of dollars in potential revenue.
In May another senior member of the Tamil Nadu-based DMK party to be implicated in the scandal was arrested.
Kanimozhi – a member of parliament and the daughter of the state’s former chief minister M Karunanidhi – denies conspiracy and bribery allegations in relation to the alleged mis-selling of the telecoms licences.
Several top company executives have also been arrested in connection with the so-called 2G case.
The government has been hit by a series of corruption allegations in recent months.
These include a parliamentary cash-for-votes scandal, the resignation of the head of the country’s anti-corruption watchdog after he himself was accused of wrongdoing and alleged financial irregularities at last year’s Commonwealth Games.
India has the world’s fastest growing mobile phone market, with about half a billion subscribers.
Source : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-14061507
Karunanidhi leaves for Delhi to meet Kanimozhi
Jun 21st
DMK chief M. Karunanidhi on Tuesday left for New Delhi to meet his jailed daughter Kanimozhi, a day after the Supreme Court rejected her bail application in the 2G spectrum case.
Mr. Karunanidhi left by a private airline at 8.50 a.m. and was accompanied by senior leaders Duraimurugan and K. Ponmudy among others.
He is expected to meet Ms. Kanimozhi at Tihar jail on Tuesday and is likely to stay in Delhi for a day or two, DMK sources said.
The apex court had on Monday dismissed the bail pleas of DMK MP Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar.
A special bench of justices G.S. Singhvi and B.S. Chauhan had asked the two accused to wait till framing of charges before approaching the special CBI court for regular bail.
The court said the CBI court can thereafter decide their bail pleas uninfluenced by the earlier bail proceedings.
This is Mr. Karunanidhi’s second visit to meet his jailed daughter after she was arrested about a month ago.
Source : http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2122614.ece
Karunanidhi on birthday takes aim at ‘bad friends’
Jun 3rd
New Delhi: His birthday was usually the perfect platform for his party to prove its political strength. But today, as M Karunanidhi, the head of the DMK, turns 88, there’s little of the traditional pomp and glory. A trip to Delhi to visit his daughter in jail was cancelled late last night. Instead, Mr Karunanidhi delivered a message that suggests a growing rift with his political partner, the Congress. “Bad friendship ends in trouble,” he said.
Mr Karunanidhi was rejected unequivocally last month in the Tamil Nadu elections, ending plans to return as Chief Minister. The DMK, which contested the elections with the Congress, was decimated with one of its worst-ever performances; it’s First Family finds itself mired in controversy over chronic corruption.
Perhaps the biggest blow for the former Chief Minister is that his daughter, Kanimozhi, is now in Tihar Jail in Delhi, for allegedly accepting a bribe in the gigantic telecom scam that was reportedly engineered by A Raja, a Dalit leader of the DMK known for his proximity to Mr Karunanidhi’s family.
Mr Raja is in jail as well. The 2G scam – which saw him selling spectrum and mobile network licenses at throwaway prices in 2008 while he was Telecom Minister – has turned into a political inferno for both the DMK and the union government at the Centre, where the DMK has so far served as a partner with considerable muscle in the form of 18 MPs.
The DMK has expressed its resentment over the fact that the media was fed information about the charges against Kanimozhi before she was formally presented with the details in court. The 2G scam is being investigated by the CBI, which according to the CBI, turned multiple sessions of questioning with Kanimozhi into unnecessarily high-profile events.
Despite these public jibes, both the DMK and the Congress have maintained that their alliance stands strong for now. But the fact that Congress President Sonia Gandhi phoned Mr Karunanidhi’s arch political rival, Jayalalithaa, after she swept the elections in the state, was interpreted as a sign of a heightened tension between the two parties.
Source : http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/karunanidhi-on-birthday-takes-aim-at-bad-friends-109862
DMK mulls pullout after Sonia call
May 16th
CHENNAI: Upset with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s courtesy call to AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa, the DMK is considering pulling out its ministers from the Union cabinet and provide only outside support to its long-time ally at the Centre.
An AIADMK statement on Saturday said Sonia had called Jaya to convey her ”best wishes” on her electoral success.
DMK seniors, including party chief M Karunanidhi, have held informal discussions for two days since Saturday and probed the option of providing outside support to Congress. While Sonia’s greetings to Jayalalithaa may be perceived by some as mere courtesy, in Tamil Nadu political opponents are not known to exchange such pleasantries. The Sonia-Jaya telephone conversation is seen as a needless provocation by DMK which is sore about the perceived apathy of the Congress in the wake of CBI action against Karunanidhi’s family members.
A section within the DMK, however, cautioned restraint, pointing out that with the party now out of power, it should not lose its clout at the Centre as well. DMK has six Union ministers, including two Cabinet ministers M K Alagiri and Dayanidhi Maran. Pulling them out would leave the DMK with no political capital at a time when the party has suffered a major rout in the assembly elections. ”Until the next Lok Sabha polls in 2014, the party should focus on rebuilding its image and strengthening relations with political allies,” some senior leaders told Karunanidhi.
The mood in the DMK camp, grim since its disastrous performance, plunged further after news of Sonia’s call on Saturday. ”Thalaivar (leader) expressed reservations about Sonia’s call to Jayalalithaa. We can understand his feelings. We didn’t mind the Prime Minister calling the AIADMK leader. But the political implication of Sonia calling her is different. They have never shared a good relationship. We believe Congress is now opening doors to the AIADMK.
In our opinion, they seem to be planning for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections,” a former minister told TOI.
Congress spokeswoman Jayanti Natarajan said the AICC president also congratulated leaders of other parties who won state elections along with Jayalalithaa. ”In a democracy, it is a healthy trend,” she told the media in Delhi. On reports that Sonia had invited Jayalalithaa for tea to Delhi, she said, ”I have no idea, I have no information.”
India pressing for equal rights for Sri Lankan Tamils: Sonia
Apr 7th
India is pressing Sri Lanka to amend the Constitution to “guarantee and ensure equal rights and equal status” to Sri Lankan Tamils, Congress president and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi said here on Tuesday.
Significant progress
“In our neighbourhood, there is no issue closer to our heart than the rights of the Sri Lankan Tamil people. There has been significant progress last year and India had committed and provided large sums of money for the relief and rehabilitation of the affected people. We will do everything in our power to rehabilitate them,” she said, addressing an election rally on Island Ground along with Dravida Munetra Kazhagam president and Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.
She said the Union government was spending substantial amount on rehabilitation of Sri Lankan Tamils and “we will continue our efforts at rehabilitation” [of the Tamils displaced in the war between the Sri Lankan Army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam].
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