Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Sunday declined to offer any comment on the Opposition parties' demand in Parliament for the resignation of Union Communications and Information Technology Minister and DMK MP A. Raja from the Cabinet on the issue of 2G spectrum allocation.
“Ungalukku maghizhchiyana seithi yethaiyum naan kondu varavillai” (“I've not brought any good news for you”), he remarked sarcastically when journalists here asked him whether Mr. Raja would continue in the Cabinet.
On the controversy relating to his son and Union Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister M.K. Alagiri, who has been criticised for not answering oral questions in Parliament and for rejecting the invitation from the Lok Sabha Speaker for a meeting to resolve the issue, Mr. Karunanidhi responded: “You ask him.”
“As the party president, will you take it up with Mr. Alagiri?” He shot back: “You will know when I enquire.”
Mr. Karunanidhi said he would take up with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during their meeting on Monday the issue of providing employment at the Salem Steel Plant to the children of those who had given land for establishing the plant. He pooh-poohed Tamil Nadu Opposition parties' criticism on the power situation and said the situation was better in Tamil Nadu than other States.
Mr. Karunanidhi said the details of the demand placed by Tamil Nadu before the Planning Commission would be known only after the meeting on Monday.
Pratibha invited
Earlier, Mr. Karunanidhi met President Pratibha Patil at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan and invited her for the inauguration of the World Tamil Classical Language Conference 2010 to be held in Coimbatore next month. She had accepted the invitation, he said.
