Karunanidhi blasts CPI-M, backs Laloo

The ongoing conflict in the United Front over Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav's status in the ruling combine took a new turn on Thursday with the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham saying the Rashtriya Janata Dal should be included in the alliance.

''It will not be wise on the part of the Front to turn down the RJD's unconditional offer to support the Gujral government,'' DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi said in a statement in Madras.

Taking exception to Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet's statement that the RJD should not be included in the Front, Karunanidhi said this view was expressed without consulting either the DMK or the Tamil Maanila Congress.

The DMK chief regretted that some vested interests were bent upon destabilising the UF government. It was unfortunate that lack of unity had led to the collapse of the previous two Janata governments led by Morarji Desai and V P Singh, he lamented. The DMK would never associate itself with the evil designs of such vested interests, he added.

UNI