Karunanidhi Decides To Play Safe
Chennai, Apr 27 : The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, a key ally at the Centre, today decided not to walk out of the UPA alliance over the 2G issue and decided to fight the case legally.After
Chennai, Apr 27 : The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, a key ally at the Centre, today decided not to walk out of the UPA alliance over the 2G issue and decided to fight the case legally.
After a meeting of the party's High-Level Committee, DMK President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister expressed 'anguish' over inclusion Kanimozhi's name in the second charge sheet in the spectrum allocation case by CBI and said they would fight the issue legally to prove the their innocence of his daughter and the party in court.
'We will take legal steps to prove the truth', he told reporters. "It is not dharam sankat (Catch-22 crisis)", he said.
Ever since the supplementary charge sheeting naming Kanimozhi as an accused was filed in a Delhi court on Monday, there has been speculation that DMK might adopt a hard line and could even think of quitting the Central ministry.
Asked whether Kanimozhi would appear before a CBI court at Delhi on May 6, where she had been summoned, he replied in the affirmative.
'She is not Jayalalithaa to ignore the court summons', he said in a reference to the AIADMK leader seeking exemption from personal appearance in the disproportionate wealth case against her in a Bangalore court.
Asked whether Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV CEO Sarath Kumar, who had also been summoned, would seek anticipatory bail, Karunanidhi said the lawyers would decide about it.
To a query, Karunanidhi said the party did not face any embarrassment on the issue.
The meeting adopted a resolution blaming some parties to create lack of confidence among UPA allies and to break the alliance.
It said the 2G case was being used to defame the DMK which would seek legal recourse.
It also expressed surprise over inclusion of Kanimozhi's name in the supplementary charge sheet.
Meanwhile, in Delhi, the CBI has alleged that DMK MP Kanimozhi was an "active brain" behind the operation of Kalaignar TV and actively pursued with intermediaries and her party the reappointment of 2G scam accused A Raja as Telecom Minister.
In its 53-page chargesheet, the CBI has alleged that during investigations, it found that in 2007, Kanimozhi along with other promoters incorporated Kalaignar TV after they left Sun TV network.
"She has also been in regular touch with Raja regarding the launching of Kalaignar TV and other pending works related to the TV," the CBI, which named her as an accused, claimed in the chargesheet.
The DMK MP was also an initial director of the company but resigned as her clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs was pending and that would have resulted in delay of launch of the TV, the CBI alleged.
"Investigations have also revealed that the accused Kanimozhi was a stakeholder of Kalaignar TV to the tune of 20 per cent and was an active brain behind its operations. She was widely covered by the Kalaignar Seiithigal (news) channel.
"She also actively pursued with the intermediaries and DMK headquarters, the matter regarding reappointment of accused as Minister of Communications and Information Technology in 2009, which clearly establishes the strong association of accused Kanimozhi and Raja," the agency alleged.
The CBI has said that the DMK MP should be tried for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy for taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an official act.PTI