Wednesday’s crucial high-level meeting of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has taken the political centre stage. The party is expected to work out strategies to negotiate the 2G spectrum muddle, especially in the wake of the CBI naming party head and chief minister M Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi in the second charge sheet on Tuesday.
According party insiders, the meeting will deliberate on the current situation and chart out its next course of action.
The CBI has accused Kanimozhi of entering into a criminal conspiracy with the prime accused, former telecom minister A Raja, besides charging her under the Prevention of Corruption Act for taking illegal gratification through the family-controlled Kalaignar TV.
Political observers here say that though the new development has strained DMK-Congress ties, it is most unlikely that DMK will decide to withdraw from the government, as has been speculated in a section of media. Earlier, during the seat-sharing talks for the Tamil Nadu assembly polls, the Dravidian party had threatened to pull out its ministers from the Union Cabinet but was mollified by the intervention of Congress leaders in Delhi. The naming of Kanimozhi had fuelled speculation that the party might weigh the option of pulling out its ministers.
?All the DMK can do at this juncture is to put up a brave front and face the case legally. Wednesday’s meeting will just reiterate the party’s known stand that there is nothing illegal in the deal by Kalaignar TV and that they will fight it out legally,? said a political commentator, who did not want to be named.
According to party sources, the DMK is unlikely to do anything that would precipitate matters with the Congress, particularly given that the results of the assembly polls will be out on May 13.
The DMK was apparently unhappy with wide publicity given to the CBI questioning of Kanimozhi, Karunanidhi’s wife Dayan Ammal and Sharad Kumar, all stakeholders in Kalaignar TV, which is at the centre of a controversy over receiving loans from DB Realty.
?Even after it had been proved in a transparent manner that the Rs 200 crore loan given by a firm (DB Realty to Kalaignar TV) was returned with interest and that there was nothing hanky-panky and no conspiracy, Dayalu and Kanimozhi were questioned (by the CBI),? a DMK statement said on Tuesday.
The supplementary charge sheet filed in a CBI court in the 2G scam probe, however, did not name Dayalu Ammal as an accused but mentioned her as one of the witnesses in the case. Her name had prominently figured during investigations, leading to speculation that she could be named as a co-accused.