Chennai: DMK president M Karunanidhi (pictured), yesterday declared that the party will not align with the Congress or the BJP in the 2014 general elections.
He made the announcement at the DMK’s general council meeting held here, a party leader said.
In his address to the general council, Karunanidhi said party leader and former telecom minister A Raja was fully blamed for the 2G scam and also referred to the jailing of his daughter and Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi in the case, the party leader said.
The DMK chief said the Bharatiya Janata Party now was different to what it was during the time of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The general council empowered Karunanidhi and general secretary K Anbazhagan to decide on alliances for the 2014 general elections.
“Several speakers said the party should not align with the Congress to fight the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. They said the party can even go it alone in the elections,” the DMK leader, preferring anonymity, said.
The DMK walked out of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, expressing its dissatisfaction at the way the government was handling the Sri Lankan Tamils issue.
However, it later patched up with the Congress and Kanimozhi was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha with the Congress support.
The DMK’s general council meeting was held here to discuss the party’s strategy for the Lok Sabha polls and other issues.
Earlier in a meeting Karunanidhi indirectly criticised the Congress by saying that the DMK government in 1976 was dismissed for espousing the cause of Sri Lankan Tamils.
He said the speech of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at a public meeting on the sands of the Marina that the DMK regime was dismissed for being very close to militant groups in Sri Lanka bore testimony to the fact that the party paid a heavy price for supporting Sri Lankan Tamils. In 1991, the DMK government was dismissed without taking the opinion of the then Governor Surjit Singh Barnala on the ground that it was passing messages to Sri Lanka.
The DMK leader said he could understand the Sri Lankan government getting angry over DMK supporting the Sri Lankan Tamils, but was at wit’s end to understand why the Indian government was upset.
The Congress yesterday did not comment on DMK chief M Karunanidhi’s statement that his party will not align with either the Congress or the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
“Except the A K Antony panel, formed to discuss alliances, no one can comment on the issue,” Congress spokesman Meem Afzal said. agencies
