CBI chargesheet on Kanimozhi: DMK top brass meeting tomorrow

Amid fresh strains with its key ally Congress, DMK will hold a crucial meeting here tomorrow to plan its next course of action in the wake of CBI naming the Chief Minister Mr M. Karunanidhi’s daughter Ms Kanimozhi in the second chargesheet in the 2G spectrum scam.

The DMK top brass would discuss ways to handle the new situation arising out of CBI naming Ms Kanimozhi as co-conspirator in the scam, taking it to the doors of DMK’s first family for the first time.

The Central Bureau of Investigation has accused Ms Kanimozhi, a Rajya Sabha MP, of entering into a criminal conspiracy with the prime accused former Telecom Minister, Mr A. Raja, besides charging her under the Prevention of Corruption Act for taking illegal gratification through Kalaignar TV.

The new development has put additional strain on the DMK-Congress ties in a span of just two months after the Dravidian party threatened to pull out its ministers over seat-sharing talks for the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls.

The naming of Ms Kanimozhi, a prominent face of DMK, has fuelled speculation that the party might weigh the option of pulling out its ministers though any immediate drastic action was unlikely.

According to party sources, the DMK is unlikely to do anything that would precipitate matters with the Congress particularly at a time when the results of the Assembly polls will be out on May 13. Party leader Mr Raja has already been chargesheeted and lodged in prison.

Of late, DMK’s relations with its seven-year-old ally Congress have been uneasy, more so vis-a-vis the recently held Assembly polls. However, crisis managers on either side ensured that the alliance continues.

All eyes are now set on tomorrow’s meeting where the DMK is expected to work out strategies to extricate itself from the 2G quagmire.

The DMK is apparently miffed at the “publicity exercise of gargantuan proportions” given to CBI questioning Ms Kanimozhi, Mr Karunanidhi’s wife Ms Dayaluammal and Ms Sharad Kumar, all stakeholders in Kalaignar TV, which is in an eye of storm for receiving loans from DB Realty in a “circuitous route’’.

“...Even after it had been proved in a transparent manner that the Rs 200-crore loan given by a firm (DB Reality to Kalaingar TV) was returned with interest and that there was nothing hanky panky and no conspiracy, Dayalu and Kanimozhi were questioned (by CBI)...,” a DMK statement said.

The supplementary chargesheet filed in a CBI court in the 2G scam probe, however, did not name Ms Dayaluammal as an accused but mentioned her as one of the witnesses in the case. Her name had prominently figured during investigations fuelling speculation that she could be named as a co-accused.

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