2G scam: ‘Surprised’ Kanimozhi is accused,DMK to fight legally

A resolution taken at the meeting today said the 2G spectrum issue was being used to defame the Tamil Nadu party which is fighting to retain power in the state for a consecutive term.

Beleaguered by widespread allegations about financial irregularities in spectrum allocation when its influential leader A Raja was Telecom Minister,the DMK has also said the 2G issue was being used by some parties to create a lack of confidence among UPA allies and also to break the alliance.

The DMK said it was surprised the CBI’s supplementary chargesheet should name its prominent face and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi in the scam.

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said he was “anguished” his daughter had been named by the CBI. “We will take legal steps to prove the truth,” he told reporters.

Asked whether Kanimozhi would appear before a CBI court in Delhi on May 6,where she has been summoned,he replied in the affirmative. “She is not Jayalalithaa to ignore court summons,” he said in a reference to the AIADMK leader seeking exemption from personal appearance in the disproportionate wealth case against her in a Bangalore court.

Asked whether Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV CEO Sarath Kumar,who had also been summoned,would seek anticipatory bail,Karunanidhi said the lawyers would decide about it. To a query,Karunanidhi said the party did not face any embarrassment on the issue.

The CBI’s chargesheet has brought fresh trouble to the party’s ties with UPA lead partner Congress. Naming Kanimozhi,the CBI has brought to sharp focus the ‘role’ of the party’s first family in the scam.

The DMK patriarch is reportedly upset over the fresh development,but the party meet did not endorse pulling out of the UPA ministry.

Party sources have said DMK was unlikely to do anything to precipitate matters with the Congress,particularly at a time when results of the April 13 Assembly polls are to be announced on May 13.

Of late,DMK’s relations with its seven-year-old ally Congress have been uneasy,more so before the recently held Assembly polls when the national party wanted a share of power post-elections.

DMK has already made known its displeasure over the “publicity exercise of gargantuan proportions” given to CBI questioning Kanimozhi,Karunanidhi’s wife Dayaluammal and Sharad Kumar,all stakeholders in Kalaignar TV,which allegedly received loans from DB Realty through a ‘circuitous route.’