Karuna hits out at Jaya for statement on DMK

CHENNAI: Slamming Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for her statement that DMK could never bounce back as people had rejected it, the party chief M Karunanidhi on Wednesday said it was "sheer madness" to write off his party which had faced many ups and downs in the past.

"DMK is not just a party but a symbol of Tamil race. If anybody says that they will defeat that,it is sheer madness," he said at a marriage function here.

It was common for any party to face defeats and successes in elections, Karunanidhi said.

He said in 1991, when former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, the DMK could win only one seat, but in the subsequent elections in 1996, the party emerged victorious.

He said it should also be noted that the DMK was the only party in the state to win 185 seats in the assembly polls, in an obvious reference to 1971 polls.

"Defeats will never block our forward movement.Even in 1991, we were blamed for the assassination (of Rajiv Gandhi), which was not true," he said.

In the April 13 assembly polls this year, DMK had only won 23 seats with the party-led combine securing 31 of the 234 seats.

Replying to the debate on the resolution against reviving the Upper House in the Assembly yesterday, Jayalalithaa had said the DMK was a "sun (party symbol) which has set and cannot rise again".