Bad friendship will end in trouble, says M Karunanidhi

DMK president Muthuvel Karunanidhi turned 88 on Friday but with his daughter and RS MP Kanimozhi in the Tihar, accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, Karunanidhi had nothing to celebrate, and not many to celebrate with.

“In the past his birthdays were attended by former prime ministers and political heavyweights from New Delhi,” said a party worker waiting at the DMK headquarters to greet Karunanidhi.

“Bad friendship will end in trouble” was the curt message Karunanidhi gave to his party cadre, the timing of which coincided with the controversy arising out of media reports featuring his grandnephew and union textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran. 
Maran reportedly caused a loss of Rs 440 crore to the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd during his tenure as communications minister in the union cabinet from 2004 to 2007. It was alleged that Sun Network, owned by the Maran family, received kickbacks in the 2G spectrum allocation to Aircel, a company owned by Malaysian group Maxis.

Interestingly, Jaya’s demand that Maran resign or the prime minister sack him did not elicit a response from Karunanidhi who maintained silence.

That all’s not well between Maran and Karunanidhi also became evident when on Thursday Maran fielded  N Murugan, a former IAS officier and close family friend, to defend him. Murugan alleged that the telecom scam was a result of the witch-hunt launched by the coterie A Raja, Kanimozhi and Rajathi Ammal.