Karunanidhi blames Congress for Tamil Nadu poll debacle

All is not well between alliance partners DMK and the Congress. The DMK not only sent just one person - parliamentary party chief TR Baalu - to attend the UPA-II government’s second anniversary celebration on Sunday, but party chief M Karunandhi also blamed the Congress for DMK’s humiliating defeat in the recently-concluded assembly election.

In a nine-page statement issued late on Saturday night, without naming anyone, Karunanidhi pointed fingers at allies Congress and PMK, and the Election Commission of India for the party’s debacle.

Mired in controversy after its minister A Raja was jailed in connection with the second geenration mobile telephony spectrum allocation scam, the DMK and allies won just 30 seats compared to the 204 secured by rival AIADMK and allies.

“I am not prepared to go into the reasons for the DMK’s defeat. It could be because I had conceded all seats and constituencies demanded by the allies,” Karunanidhi said.    

“The Tamil Nadu-specific anti-democratic decisions by the Election Commission could be another factor which led to our debacle. But I do not want to speculate on any of these reasons,” Karunanidhi said.

The DMK patriarch was referring to the pressure exerted by the Congress during the seat-sharing talks. The DMK had to relent to the Congress’ demand for 63 seats to prevent the alliance from breaking days before the Tamil Nadu assembly election.

Karunanidhi’s remarks, which came a day after his daughter Kanimozhi was arrested in connection with the 2G scam, are likely to further strain DMK-Congress ties.

The DMK, it is learnt, is already upset with the Congress for keeping quiet and not offering support after Kanimozhi was dragged into the scam. Political analysts, however, are not impressed with Karunanidhi’s defence. “His statement reads as if the entire Indian population minus his family are his enemies,” said a veteran political commentator.
 
DMK chief to meet Kanimozhi today
MK chief M Karunanidhi will meet his daughter Kanimozhi, who is lodged in New Delhi’s Tihar jail, on Monday. “But I may not meet Sonia Gandhi or Manmohan Singh. These meetings are not on my agenda,” he said. Karunanidhi said people nursing animosity against his family plotted Kanimozhi’s arrest. “She is innocent. I persuaded her to become a shareholder in Kalaignar,” he said. On the DMK’s ties with the Congress, he said: “It is not what you people assume.”