Even as the Marans quietly observed a much-hyped “family function”—which many hoped would end the ongoing feud in the DMK’s first family —Chief Minister M Karunanidhi left with his wife Dayalu Ammal this morning for Delhi to participate in the National Development Council meeting. The signal was clear. There was no room for any reconciliation. The rift between Karunanidhi’s family and the Marans now seems irreconcilable.

There was much speculation that the valakaapu (bangle ceremony) of Anbukkarasi, Dayanidhi Maran’s sister who is pregnant, would provide the platform for a last-ditch effort to patch-up with granduncle Karunanidhi. But, while invitations were dispatched to every family member of Karunanidhi, including M K Azhagiri, M K Stalin and Kanimozhi, none attended the function. Karunanidhi will be back in Chennai tomorrow.

In the run up to the function, Karunanidhi’s daughter Selvi, who is married to his nephew Selvam, is said to have tried to heal the rift, appealing to her father to attend the function.

But the DMK patriarch remained firm about not forgiving his grandnephews for “triggering” the Madurai violence with their poll survey in Dinakaran on who would inherit the mantle after him, that too on the eve of the gala celebrations to mark his 50th year as legislator. The survey, published on May 9, sparked off violence which left three employees of the newspaper dead.

Subsequent attempts by the Marans to heal wounds have failed. The latest effort to organise a function for a patch-up, for which Kalanidhi Maran, Dayanidhi’s elder brother, flew to America to bring back Anbukarasi and his mother Mallika, also did not bear fruit.

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