CHENNAI, February 2: A peeved Prime Minister I K Gujral walked off in a huff at the Chennai airport on Monday on being asked for his reaction to the state Janata Dal unit boycotting his visit to the southern metropolis in view of the DMK-TMC alliance not conceding the party a single seat in Tamil Nadu.The PM, who walked up to the media enclosure from the specially erected shamiana at the Old Chennai airport on arrival from New Delhi by a special IAF aircraft, left the scene without answering the query.
Meanwhile, the entire state unit of the Janata Dal boycotted the Prime Minister's visit to Chennai. None of the JD leaders, including its state unit president G A Vadivelu were present at the airport to receive him.
The Prime Minister, who drove down to Raj Bhavan, later attended a lunch hosted by Karunanidhi at a hotel. The JD leaders did not call on him at Raj Bhavan. Nor did they attend the lunch, though invitations had been extended to them by Karunanidhi.
A section of the JD leaders when contactedsaid they had boycotted all the engagements of the PM in view of the treatment meted out to the party in the State by its alliance partners. They were sore about the directive given by the central leadership of the party to withdraw all the nine candidates from the fray in support of the DMK-TMC alliance.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
