Chennai: DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Monday fielded former telecom ministers A. Raja and Dayanidhi Maran among others for the April 24 Lok Sabha polls, daring to take on the 2G ghost, which wreaked havoc for the party in the 2011 Assembly polls. When reporters drew his attention to the inclusion of a couple of candidates facing corruption cases, Mr Karunanidhi who retained eight of his 18 sitting MPs said that the cases did not have enough evidences and the charges against them were weak.
While announcing candidates for 35 constituencies (DMK has already allotted five seats to its allies), Mr Karunanidhi kept his doors open to the Left parties.
He clarified before reading out the candidates’ names that the list was not complete and it could have one or two changes, which, if done, would be intimated later. Asked if Left parties would join their alliance, Mr Karunanidhi said they have not approached so far and they would not say no to Left.
The DMK chief also sent a strong message to his rebellious son M. K. Alagiri who was expelled from the party in January last by choosing not to accommodate any of his supporters.
Mr Karunanidhi’s anger was evident when he urged reporters not to ‘hurt’ him by posing “irrelevant questions at a meeting organized to announced DMK’s candidates.” He said this while asked to comment on Mr Alagiri expressing his willingness to float a new party.
