Dayanidhi tries to reach out to Karunanidhi

CHENNAI: Dayanidhi Maran made an attempt to reach out to DMK and its leader M Karunanidhi, a day after the party’s administrative committee sought his dismissal, forcing him to resign from the Union Cabinet.

Mr Maran, who took a break from his holiday at Ooty to speak to reporters in Chennai at his residence on Monday, vowed loyalty to his party and his leader, even as he suggested that Mr Karunanidhi was presumably misled by someone trying to capitalise on recent events.

Last week, a survey published by Dinakaran, a newspaper run by Dayanidhi Maran’s brother Kalanidhi Maran, led to a group of DMK members attacking the newspaper office killing three people. The mob was allegedly to be supporters of MK Azhagiri, son of Mr Karunanidhi.

Dayanidhi Maran did not attend a grand celebration to mark Mr Karunanidhi’s 50 years in state assembly, and Mr Karunanidhi blamed the survey, rather than Mr Azhagiri for the mishap, indicating that his support was for his sons, rather than his grand nephew, Maran. The party’s committee, which met on Sunday, issued a show cause notice to Maran, asking him why he should not be removed from the party.

Mr Maran, who sent his resignation letter to prime minister a couple of hours after the committee’s decision, said he did not care about ministerial berth. But he was sad because he was accused of anti-party activities.

“I cannot even dream of anything against my party or my leader,” he said. He said he was a DMK man right from his birth, and would remain so. “Even if I am asked to give up party membership, I will remain a DMK supporter and sympathiser,” he said.

However, he added that he would not accept ministership even if Mr Karunanidhi were to have a change of mind, and offer him one. Mr Maran spoke to the press in his late father Murasoli Maran’s Gopalapuram residence, a few metres away from Mr Karunanidhi’s home.

At the beginning of press meet, he insisted on not having Mr Murasoli Maran’s photograph as the backdrop, to make sure it doesn’t convey any wrong signals.

Mr Maran, who refused to comment on anything that might embarrass (for example, he did not reply questions on why he did not attend the golden jubilee celebrations), however, said his grand uncle might have been misled by someone who wanted to capitalise on the opportunity provided by recent events. He declined to name anyone. He said he was in good terms with Mr M K Stalin and Mr Azhagiri. “They are my uncles,” he said.

When asked why he did not make any attempt to stop the survey from getting published, he said, “I have nothing to do with Sun TV or Dinakaran.” Mr Karunanidhi told assembly that the survey was published despite him requesting not to.

Mr Maran, while taking credit for Rs 2.65 lakh crore of foreign investments into the country, including Rs 47,000 crore of investments into Tamil Nadu, said he could perform well, only because of the opportunity and support by Mr Karunanidhi.

He said when he informed UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and prime minister Manmohan Singh about his resignation, they were “a little upset”. However, he said his resignation is not likely to have an impact on the functioning of ministry or investment flow into the country. “There are much better people in the party. And, we should not forget that the government is being led by Dr Manmohan Singh,” he added.