Chennai: The DMK on Sunday reacted sharply to MDMK chief Vaiko’s comparison of its chief M. Karunanidhi’s hospitalisation and the current hospital stay of Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa while rubbishing the Opposition Leader M.K. Stalin’s demand for an interim chief minister in Tamil Nadu.
On Saturday, Mr Vaiko had demanded to know why the demand for an interim CM was being made now when no such demand was raised when the DMK leader M. Karunanidhi was hospitalised “for 45 days” during his tenure as CM in 2009.
“There is absolutely no need for any interim arrangement to take care of the administration now”, the MDMK chief declared, while celebrating his fresh bonhomie with those at the helm in the government and the ruling party — who also facilitated his visit to the Apollo hospital and a personal briefing by the UK specialist, Dr Richard John Beale.
Reacting to Vaiko’s rhetoric, DMK spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP T.K.S. Elangovan said the comments by the MDMK chief only showed his desperation and his anger against the parent DMK.
“Mr Vaiko has been rejected by the people of Tamil Nadu several times and that desperation is showing now. His comments only reflect his anger against the DMK,” Mr Elangovan told Deccan Chronicle.
The DMK leader said Mr Vaiko even got his facts wrong as Mr Karunanidhi was hospitalised only for nearly 10 days in 2009 and it did not have any effect on the functioning of the government since ministers and bureaucrats handled their work and reported to him on a regular basis.
“More than that, the photographs of our leader meeting visitors and holding meetings from the hospital bed were released. Vaiko’s comparison is absurd and is not acceptable,” he said.
“Vaiko knows he is irrelevant in Tamil Nadu politics and he may hope to revive his political fortunes by such gimmicks,” Mr. Elangovan concluded. Political analyst Bernard D’ Sami agrees with the DMK demand for an interim arrangement, while lashing out at Vaiko for “arguing with wrong facts”.
“I don’t remember Mr Karunanidhi being in hospital for 45 days as being claimed by Mr Vaiko. He should not mislead people. There may be people who would want to take advantage of the situation and while Vaiko’s statements may please them, they do not serve common good. One should not take advantage of an unfortunate situation such as this,” Mr Sami said.
Mr Karunanidhi was hospitalised in the first week of May 2009 during the Lok Sabha elections for more than a week and was visited by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi at the Sri Ramachandra Medical College in Porur on the outskirts of the city.
