Karunanidhi turns emotional at poll rally

Recalls Dravidian ideals and says this could be his last election

DMK president M .Karunanidhi addressing an election meeting in Coimbatore on Saturday. Photo: K. Ananthan

While appealing to the people to use their vote discretely, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M. Karunanidhi turned emotional at an election rally in Coimbatore on Saturday. He recalled how he toiled for the Dravidian ideals and then said that this could be his last election campaign.

However, when the crowd responded with a loud ‘no,’ he said that if they were ready to uphold Tamil pride and glory and support the DMK, he was willing to campaign even for the “next 50 years.”

He cautioned the people against wasting their votes for political parties like the AIADMK that went against the State interest.

At his first major campaign outside Chennai in this election, Mr. Karunanidhi said that a vote for DMK candidates, including A. Raja in the Nilgiris, K. Ganesh Kumar in Coimbatore and Pongalur N. Palanisamy in Pollachi would help secure a better future for Tamil Nadu.

Though Chief Minister Jayalalithaa claimed she was working for the poor and was one among them, Mr. Karunanidhi took a dig at her remarks saying that the properties as listed by the public prosecutor in the assets case she faced in a Bangalore court, proved otherwise.

Mr. Karunanidhi said the DMK, as a movement, had helped revive the Tamil glory. But, there was now a threat to the Tamil pride in the form of Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate, he warned.

Recalling his fight for Tamil issues since a very young age, Mr. Karunanidhi expressed the hope that today’s youth would uphold Tamil identity and their ideals.

The DMK’s deputy general secretary, Durai Murugan, said that the AIADMK rule was negative in many aspects as all the good schemes ushered in by the previous DMK regime had been scrapped. He said the so called “Modi wave” was only a media creation.

Former Union Telecom Minister Mr. Raja defended his action in the allocation of 2G spectrum.

He wanted to know why the Chief Minister had not taken steps to implement the Avinashi-Athikadavu water supply scheme. Mr. Palanisamy and others also spoke at the rally.