The Hindu : Front Page : Dayanidhi, Kalanithi fail to meet Karunanidhi

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Wednesday, Jun 04, 2008
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Dayanidhi, Kalanithi fail to meet Karunanidhi

R.K. Radhakrishnan

High drama at CIT Colony residence of Chief Minister

Sources say Azhagiri insisted that there be no such meeting
Kalanithi had greeted Stalin on his birthday on March 1

CHENNAI: There was high drama at the CIT Colony residence of Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi, when his estranged nephews Dayanidhi Maran and Kalanithi Maran tried to meet him on Tuesday afternoon, but were not given access.

While the immediate family maintained that they had nothing to do with the inability of the Marans to greet Mr. Karunanidhi on his birthday, sources said it was the Chief Minister’s elder son, M.K. Azhagiri, who insisted that there be no such meeting.

Right from the morning, there were people close to Mr. Azhagiri at the Gopalapuram residence waiting to see if the Marans would show up. They did not. Later, the sources said, the Chief Minister’s daughter, Selvi, advised the brothers to go to the CIT colony residence.

The first meeting after the estrangement — between Mr.Kalanithi and the Chief Minister — also took place at the CIT colony residence, though the household itself is not supportive of the Marans. “It is easy to barge into the CIT colony house because unlike the Gopalapuram House [which is the residence of the mother of Mr.Azhagiri], there is no one to stop a family insider,” one source said.

Azhagiri’s request

Once Mr.Azhagiri received information that the Marans were headed towards the CIT colony house, he telephonically requested Mr.Karunanidhi from a farm house outside Chennai, that he should consider not meeting the Maran brothers in the current situation.

Mr.Karunanidhi, who has immense regard for his elder son, obliged. The Maran brothers, who were seated in the hall downstairs, were told that the Chief Minister would not meet them.

Sources said that Mr. Kalanithi took the decision with equanimity while Mr.Dayanidhi seemed agitated. They left the house soon after.

Meanwhile, Mr.Dayanidhi has written to a section of DMK men, including Ministers, urging them to carry forward the good work they were doing.

He wanted them to rededicate themselves to the task on the Chief Minister’s birthday.

The fallout

After Dinakaran, a Tamil daily owned by the Marans, published an opinion poll last year that stated that Mr. Azhagiri enjoyed very little support, Mr. Karunanidhi had distanced himself from the Maran family.

The attack on the Dinakaran office in Madurai following the publication of the opinion poll, and the subsequent developments that saw the exit of Dayanidhi Maran from the Union Cabinet, soured the relations between Mr. Karunanidhi’s immediate family and the Maran brothers.

However, Mr. Kalanithi had greeted Mr. Stalin on his birthday on March 1, fuelling speculation that a patch-up was in the offing. But Mr. Azhagiri and other members of Mr. Karunanidhi’s family have been against any such move.

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