The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is planning to celebrate the 93rd birthday of its leader M. Karunanidhi on June 3 in a big way in Chennai, using the occasion to bring together frontline opposition leaders onto one platform.
The host, Mr. Karunanidhi’s son and working president of the DMK M.K. Stalin hopes, political sources said, the event will not just give a fillip to his party in Tamil Nadu during a turbulent political period in the State, but further ongoing efforts to take opposition unity forward.
This evening, DMK Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, accompanied by Janata Dal-United (JD-U) MP K.C. Tyagi, returned from Patna where they had travelled to personally hand over Mr. Stalin’s invitation to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.
“It was a very cordial meeting with Nitish ji in Patna, and he has agreed to go to Chennai on June 3,” Mr. Tyagi said, adding, “Nitish ji has had a long relationship with Karunanidhi ji from the late 1980s.” There was also some discussion with Ms. Kanimozhi on fielding a common candidate for the presidential polls.
On Saturday, Ms Kanimozhi is scheduled to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi to extend a similar invitation to her.
Communist Party of India-Marxist’s (CPI-M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and Communist Party of India’s (CPI) D. Raja have already accepted invitations, these sources said.
