Karuna blames Centre for Kani 'wilting' in jail

Reflecting further strains in his party's ties with Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Karunanidhi has blamed the Centre for the arrest of his daughter Kanimozhi in the 2G spectrum case.

"Kanimozhi is in Tihar jail, either it could be due to Centre's order or complacency," the DMK patriarch said in his first public meeting after the assembly polls in his Tiruvarur constituency on Sunday night.

Karunanidhi, who often turned emotional during the meeting, alleged that Kanimozhi had been arrested as the CBI had to hold someone accountable and said her mistake was his mistake -- of making her a shareholder in Kalaignar TV.

"I compelled her to become a shareholder with a view to secure her future," he said adding she was languishing in the jail under testing conditions.

"You know a flower kept there will wither away quickly due to the temperature there."

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Karunanidhi's comments come two days after he said on his birthday "...bad friendship will result in trouble."

The DMK chief's remark was seen as a subtle message about his being sore with his party's seven-year old ally Congress, with whom his party's ties have not been the best of late.

The strain in the DMK's alliance with the lead UPA partner had come out very clearly during seat-sharing negotiations for the April 13 Assembly polls with the Congress managing to wrest 63 seats from the DMK.

The DMK-Congress alliance came under more stress after the arrest of the Dravidian party's Dalit face, A Raja, former Telecom Minister, in the 2G scam.

With the 2G scam reaching the doors of Karunanidhi's family, leading to the arrest of Kanimozhi, the unease between the two partners has grown more.

Congress on Monday said it shares the 'agony' of DMK chief M Karunanidhi because of imprisonment of his daughter Kanimozhi in 2G scam but suggested that it was helpless as the matter was in the hands of probe agencies.

All India Congress Committee General Secretary in charge of Tamil Nadu Ghulam Nabi Azad insisted that relations between his party and DMK "are good" despite developments related to 2G scam in which Kanimozi as well as A Raja, another DMK MP, have been jailed.

"We share his (Karunanidhi's) agony. One can imagine the agony of a father whose daughter is in jail. He is upset. But the government had no role. We could not have done anything," the Union minister said at an interaction with women scribes.

"This is being looked into by investigating agencies and government has not interfered. Our party MP Suresh Kalmadi is also in jail (in Commonwealth Games scam)," he said.

Asked about the impact of 2G scam on ties between Congress and DMK, he said, "Our relations are good. We stood by each other through thick and thin... Karunanidhi is with us."

On the overtures made by Jayalalithaa before the assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, he said the AIADMK had sent "signals" but the offer was rejected as Congress did not want an "opportunistic" alliance despite knowing that the state does not "repeat" the same political party at the hustings.

"We cannot go with B as A is losing," the minister said. On Telangana, Azad, also in charge of Andhra Pradesh, said it is not an "easy issue" but has to be amicably resolved after holding discussions with all.