The speculation about the induction of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi into the Union Cabinet has caused unease among her party colleagues in Delhi. The exit of Dayanidhi Maran from the scene had given them an opportunity to prove their mettle. They are, therefore, squirming at the prospect of Kanimozhi’s arrival as the DMK’s face in the capital. “If she comes, what will happen to senior people of the party here? She cannot be given a Cabinet berth straightaway by divesting seniors of their portfolios. It will send a wrong message,” a DMK minister, whose portfolio was recently changed, cribbed to a Congress minister the other day. According to his ministerial colleagues, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is aware of the DMK ministers’ apprehensions, but is there anything he can do?
