Bumps for Marans in Karunanidhi’s b’day party

The sweetest gift, however, may have been the visit by the Maran brothers. Kalanidhi and Dayanidhi, who have been in political wilderness for a year since rubbing the first family of the state the wrong way, called on their grand uncle in the evening. However, sources close to the family said they went back without Karunanidhi granting them a meeting.

If the youth wing of the DMK organised cricket matches as well as other sports and cultural events today, hotel owners announced a cut in the prices of idli, dosa and other popular delicacies by 10-15 per cent from Tuesday onwards. An 85-kg cake was cut and passed around, while party workers streamed in carrying gifts ranging from a goat to energy drinks. Not that their dear leader needed any, the party was quick to point out.

Karunanidhi himself started the day with an early morning visit to the Periyar Memorial with his sons M K Azhagiri and M K Stalin, and spent it receiving well-wishers at his residence and the party headquarters, Anna Arivalayam.

Though the visitors included numerous VVIPs, the media eyes and ears were out for the Marans. Emerging from the meeting with Karunanidhi, they, however, refused to speak to the press.

The brothers had fallen out with Karunanidhi following an opinion poll published in daily Dinakaran, owned by their Sun Group. The poll had placed Karunanidhi’s short-tempered elder son Azhagiri at the bottom of the table among those who could carry on the mantle from the patriarch. The violent backlash against the daily, allegedly by Azhagiri supporters, had left three employees dead.

Soon after, Dayanidhi had found himself out of the Union Cabinet and the DMK.

If Karunanidhi indeed didn’t meet the Marans on Tuesday, it’s Azhagiri who may have played a part. While Tamil Nadu has been rife with rumours of a patch-up — Karunanidhi visited his sister Shanmugasundarathammal, the Maran brothers’ grandmother, on Monday — Azhagiri categorically denied such a possibility in a recent interview to a weekly.

“There is no change in my stance towards the Maran brothers. Moreover, I will distance myself from all those who keep contact with them,” he said in the interview. The comment was believed to have been targeted at Stalin, who does not share the same animosity towards his cousins as his elder brother and who was rated by the Dinakaran poll as the favourite to succeed Karunanidhi.

Both Kalanidhi and Dayanidhi have met Stalin since the falling out last year, with Kalanidhi calling on the DMK leader on his birthday earlier this year, and Dayanidhi running into him during a wedding.

While the Marans hogged all the limelight, Karunanidhi did receive birthday wishes from UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former prime minister V P Singh, while Governor S S Barnala, Union ministers Anbumani Ramadoss, G K Vasan, E V K S Elangovan and V Narayanasamy called on him.

The day culminated with a public meeting, addressed by leaders from alliance parties like Pranab Mukherjee, Praful Patel, Prakash Karat and D Raja.

Asked about his birthday wish, Karunanidhi said: “My only wish is to see the implementation of the Sethusamudaram project.” He told the PM the same.