They are coming to us?!” were supposed to be the first words of a shocked Kanimozhi, MP-daughter of Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi when she got the news of CBI raids in Chennai, particularly on Father Jegath Gaspar, her close associate and head of an NGO called Tamil Maiyam, of which she
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was a trustee.
As the sleuths spread the dragnet to track the money trail of the 2G spectrum scam, Karunanidhi and his family had never appeared more vulnerable.
The sleuths had closed in on V Rathnam, the auditor of Karunanidhi’s third wife and Kanimozhi’s mother Rajathi, and A Kamaraj, associate editor of Nakkeeran magazine and very close to both former telecom minister A Raja and Karunanidhi. The writing on the wall was clearer. It was not just Raja who was in the dock.
Also, the DMK strategy, approved by Karunanidhi, to drop Raja to save the party’s image has yielded nothing.
The big question now is whether he can drop Kanimozhi too. Her half-brothers may want just that to save their power but can he hang up on a daughter whose existence he had not acknowledged for many years and was constantly guilt-prodded to do “something” for her?
As murkier deals involving the close family members began to tumble out of the files and diaries, Karunanidhi realised he could save neither his family nor the DMK from the sleaze tag ahead of the assembly polls in April-May 2011.
A fortnight ago, when Karunanidhi was provoked by his political rival, AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa, to re-state his assets, he hadn’t thought that the scam scar would be come so close.
Dismissing her accusations, he had got down to detailing “every penny” he had earned in his life as a film writer - how he had bought a car and his present Gopalapuram house for Rs 45,000 even before he became a minister.
But, by Wednesday evening, his rags-to-life tale paled into insignificance and the needle of suspicion was on himself, his daughter and wife.
Karunanidhi (86) had faced corruption charges earlier too. During 1967-69, his tenure as PWD minister in the first DMK ministry had seen scams. In 1976, Karunanidhi’s ministry was dismissed by the Indira Gandhi government on corruption charges.
But what distinguished his record then and today was the involvement of family members, admit DMK leaders.
“Karunanidhi systematically reduced the DMK to a family business by excluding everyone in the party, and then they indulged in corruption. What face can we show to the people?” says a distressed middle-level DMK leader.
“No corrupt act can get done in the state without Karunanidhi’s approval. That is clear now,” said Cho Ramaswamy, political analyst and the chief minister’s long-standing critic, in his first byte to TV reporters after the raids.
What’s next? With his trust in the Congress belied, Karunanidhi is in no position to take the first step to snap ties with the Congress to show his ire over the CBI raids. If he did so, it would appear he is doing it to stall CBI investigation.
At the same time, with the Congress high command playing a waiting game, he’s not sure that the alliance with his party stays till the elections. Since 2006, Karunanidhi has been depending on a rainbow coalition and the 30-odd Congress MLAs to prop up his minority government without sharing power with them.
Congress MLAs haven’t forgiven Karunanidhi for his deal with Sonia Gandhi to not allow any Congress leader to become a minister.
With a taint image, the Dravidian party is a loser for the Tamil Nadu Congress leaders. They would like their party high command to mull other options. While a section wants to join hands with Jayalalithaa, another wants to follow Rahul Gandhi’s line for other states: walk it alone. The Congress could tie up with parties like actor Vijaykanth’s DMDK, they say.
On the other hand, Jayalalithaa sees a win-win situation either way. Says AIADMK parliamentary party leader V Maitreyan, “Whether the Congress-DMK alliance stays or splits, we are emerging as the people’s choice in the next polls.” She hopes that the AIADMK will replace the DMK in the UPA government, perhaps after the TN polls.
AIADMK leaders reason that a split in anti-DMK votes, a possibility if the Congress goes it alone, suits their party. Jayalalithaa is trying to put up a front and may try to rope in Vijaykanth.
As for the UPA’s stability, the Congress managers are speaking of a “contingency plan” of taking the help of those who would not like a mid-term poll now and dissuade others from toppling the Manmohan Singh government.
Their calculation is that while some of their allies may think that the Congress is targeting them in the name of battling corruption to enable a Rahul Gandhi-led Congress to re-emerge in their states, the fight against sleaze is bound to earn brownies for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in the longer run.
DMK's dramatis personae in crisis hour
Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com
Monday, January 10, 2011
DMDK bid to enter Guinness Book
SALEM: Seeking to enter the Guinness Book of World Records, actor-politician Vijaykanth's DMDK Sunday claimed to have organised "the biggest-ever" flex hoarding campaign with a length of 1,000 kms, stretching across Tamil Nadu.
Party flags and flex banners were erected along the roads from four different places leading to this town in western Tamil Nadu, a senior DMDK functionary said after Vijaykanth inaugurated the People Rights Retrieval Conference the Conference of the party.
DMDK youth wing leader L K Sudhish told reporters that the banner campaign was held from party headquarters in Chennai to the conference venue here, covering a distance of 350 km.
Source:http://expressbuzz.com
Party flags and flex banners were erected along the roads from four different places leading to this town in western Tamil Nadu, a senior DMDK functionary said after Vijaykanth inaugurated the People Rights Retrieval Conference the Conference of the party.
DMDK youth wing leader L K Sudhish told reporters that the banner campaign was held from party headquarters in Chennai to the conference venue here, covering a distance of 350 km.
Source:http://expressbuzz.com
Advt. against AIADMK: DMDK nothing to do with it - Actor Vijayakanth disowns
Chennai, 09 January, (Asiantribune.com):
Vijauakanth.JPG
Vijayakanth
The actor turned politician and Desia Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) leader Vijayakanth has said that his party had nothing to do with an advertisement appeared in a Tamil evening on Friday criticizing the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo Ms J Jayalalithaa.
"The advertisement had been issued with the intention that those opposed to the present DMK rule should not come together", Vijayakanth asserted.
In a statement here, he said his party leaders and cadre were issuing advertisements in newspapers in connection with a conference on “restoring the rights of the people,” at Salem on January 9.
The conference's objective was to oust the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government. Unexpectedly, an advertisement had been inserted in the evening in the names of DMDK leaders, in which the AIADMK leadership had been criticized.
The DMDK had nothing to do with the advertisement, Vijayakanth added.
It had been issued with the intention that those opposed to the present rule should not come together. The people would give a fitting lesson to those who gave the advertisement.
Fake advertisement
He further said that if the paper had carried the fake advertisement without knowing the truth, it should apologize immediately.
The party leaders whose names figured in it would identify those who gave the advertisement and initiate legal proceedings against them.
He said the party was conducting the conference with a clear mind. It would not, in anyway; help the DMK retain power in the State.
Source: Asian Tribune
Vijauakanth.JPG
Vijayakanth
The actor turned politician and Desia Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) leader Vijayakanth has said that his party had nothing to do with an advertisement appeared in a Tamil evening on Friday criticizing the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo Ms J Jayalalithaa.
"The advertisement had been issued with the intention that those opposed to the present DMK rule should not come together", Vijayakanth asserted.
In a statement here, he said his party leaders and cadre were issuing advertisements in newspapers in connection with a conference on “restoring the rights of the people,” at Salem on January 9.
The conference's objective was to oust the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government. Unexpectedly, an advertisement had been inserted in the evening in the names of DMDK leaders, in which the AIADMK leadership had been criticized.
The DMDK had nothing to do with the advertisement, Vijayakanth added.
It had been issued with the intention that those opposed to the present rule should not come together. The people would give a fitting lesson to those who gave the advertisement.
Fake advertisement
He further said that if the paper had carried the fake advertisement without knowing the truth, it should apologize immediately.
The party leaders whose names figured in it would identify those who gave the advertisement and initiate legal proceedings against them.
He said the party was conducting the conference with a clear mind. It would not, in anyway; help the DMK retain power in the State.
Source: Asian Tribune
Captain lambasts Karuna
SALEM: Throughout his lengthy speech at the DMDK party meet here, party chief Vijaykanth chose to aim his guns solely on Chief Minister Karunanidhi, preferring not to speak about any other leader or party.
“He is a liar, a cheat, a robber of the poor. He should be eliminated from the political scene,” said the DMDK chief, making some caustic personal remarks against the Chief Minister. “He is neither a rationalist or atheist nor a creative genius as he has made everyone believe, said Vijaykanth, quoting some examples.
Criticising the freebies given out by the DMK government, he said the economics behind such populist schemes was to pump back into his family the money gained from purchases of the freebie products on a mass scale.
Lashing out at the Chief Minister for his remarks that as long as the poor exist, the freebies will remain, Vijaykanth gave his own take, saying, “As long as Kalaignar rules, there will be poverty.”
The political part of his speech was confined to the oft-repeated blaming of the government for failure to contain inflation and online trading, inability to address concerns of Tamils in Sri Lanka, corruption at all levels, deterioration of law and order, increased crime rates, apathy on farmers’ woes and not living up to promises made on equal education for all.
Source:http://expressbuzz.com/
“He is a liar, a cheat, a robber of the poor. He should be eliminated from the political scene,” said the DMDK chief, making some caustic personal remarks against the Chief Minister. “He is neither a rationalist or atheist nor a creative genius as he has made everyone believe, said Vijaykanth, quoting some examples.
Criticising the freebies given out by the DMK government, he said the economics behind such populist schemes was to pump back into his family the money gained from purchases of the freebie products on a mass scale.
Lashing out at the Chief Minister for his remarks that as long as the poor exist, the freebies will remain, Vijaykanth gave his own take, saying, “As long as Kalaignar rules, there will be poverty.”
The political part of his speech was confined to the oft-repeated blaming of the government for failure to contain inflation and online trading, inability to address concerns of Tamils in Sri Lanka, corruption at all levels, deterioration of law and order, increased crime rates, apathy on farmers’ woes and not living up to promises made on equal education for all.
Source:http://expressbuzz.com/
No party can come to power without DMDK, says Vijayakanth Read more: No party can come to power without DMDK, says Vijayakanth - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/No-party-can-come-to-power-without-DMDK-says-Vijayakanth/articleshow/7249978.cms#ixzz1AdlA5P57
SALEM: In a clear message to the principle opposition AIADMK, actor-politician Vijayakanth said no party can come to power in Tamil Nadu without aligning with his DMDK. Amid heightened expectations that he would formally announce the DMDK-AIADMK tie-up at a public meeting in Salem on Sunday, Vijayakanth merely said his priority was to oust Karunnaidhi's "corruption regime" in Tamil Nadu. As for alliance, he told party cadres, "leave the decision to me. I will take a decision without hurting your self respect and the future of your party." He said he would neither be a slave nor allow his partymen to be slaves to anybody.
He described the Karunanidhi regime in Tamil Nadu as the "most corrupt and anti-people" in the history of the state and promised followers that the DMDK would soon be a part of a winnable alliance that can protect the state from `family misrule'.
Addressing a public meeting as part of the state conference of the DMDK here, Vijayakanth made it clear that the party would not continue to contest elections on its own.
"Don't worry about the alliance. I will decide on it very soon keeping in mind the larger interests of the state. The priority is dislodging the DMK regime here,'' he said. The entire gathering, comprising thousands of party workers, raised their hands favouring an alliance that can dethrone the DMK government. The decision assumes significance in the backdrop of the DMDK polling 8 to 10 percent votes in the state assembly election in 2006 and Lok Sabha election in 2009. Giving clear indications that his party would prefer an alliance with AIADMK, the actor-turned politician did not utter a single word critical of the AIADMK leader J Jayalilithaa or her present allies. But he devoted the more than one and hour speech to attacking chief minister M Karunanidhi, who according to Vijayakanth was "the main enemy" of the state and its people.
Describing the ensuing assembly election as a "Dharma Yudh", Vijayakanth declared that nobody could rule the state without his party's support. He also made it clear that he would lead the fight against DMK "from the front". "I will forge an alliance keeping in mind of the self respect and future growth of the party very soon," he reiterated.
Read more: No party can come to power without DMDK, says Vijayakanth - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/No-party-can-come-to-power-without-DMDK-says-Vijayakanth/articleshow/7249978.cms#ixzz1AdlEAvAl
Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
He described the Karunanidhi regime in Tamil Nadu as the "most corrupt and anti-people" in the history of the state and promised followers that the DMDK would soon be a part of a winnable alliance that can protect the state from `family misrule'.
Addressing a public meeting as part of the state conference of the DMDK here, Vijayakanth made it clear that the party would not continue to contest elections on its own.
"Don't worry about the alliance. I will decide on it very soon keeping in mind the larger interests of the state. The priority is dislodging the DMK regime here,'' he said. The entire gathering, comprising thousands of party workers, raised their hands favouring an alliance that can dethrone the DMK government. The decision assumes significance in the backdrop of the DMDK polling 8 to 10 percent votes in the state assembly election in 2006 and Lok Sabha election in 2009. Giving clear indications that his party would prefer an alliance with AIADMK, the actor-turned politician did not utter a single word critical of the AIADMK leader J Jayalilithaa or her present allies. But he devoted the more than one and hour speech to attacking chief minister M Karunanidhi, who according to Vijayakanth was "the main enemy" of the state and its people.
Describing the ensuing assembly election as a "Dharma Yudh", Vijayakanth declared that nobody could rule the state without his party's support. He also made it clear that he would lead the fight against DMK "from the front". "I will forge an alliance keeping in mind of the self respect and future growth of the party very soon," he reiterated.
Read more: No party can come to power without DMDK, says Vijayakanth - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/No-party-can-come-to-power-without-DMDK-says-Vijayakanth/articleshow/7249978.cms#ixzz1AdlEAvAl
Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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