Hand in hand, Karunanidhi & BJP to flex muscles at Amma

After the half-hour parleys at his Gopalapuram residence with BJP State leaders, the Chief Minister significantly remarked that the BJP had proved after coming to power that it was not a religious, fanatic party. On the other hand, the Congress, which claimed to be secular, had been a mute spectator to the Babri Masjid demolition, when Narasimha Rao was in power at theCentre.

Kumaramangalam, who said he was meeting the DMK chief on instructions from party chief Kushabhau Thakre and campaign committee chief L K Advani, did not fail to compliment the DMK “for being a great source of strength” during the vote of confidence. Injecting a wee bit of sentiment, Kumaramangalam, who used to fondly address his former ally Jayalalitha as `Akka’ (elder sister), added: “I have no elder brother. But Maran is like my elder brother.”

Compared to the AIADMK and DMK, he said, DMK was a mature party with ideals and would keep the national interest above personal considerations, unlike the AIADMK which recklessly destabilised the Vajpayee Government for a “variety of demands of (a) personal nature”. Quite at pains to defend his prospective alliance with the BJP, the Chief Minister said a big democratic country like India required a stable Government to deliver the welfare schemes to the people. “But those who campaigned for a stable Government, have pulled down the Governmentnow,” he said, obviously taking a dig at the AIADMK.

On whether he had asked BJP to prove its secular credentials before entering into a formal tie-up with the party, he merely said that electoral alliances did not mean that the respective parties gave up their ideals. The DMK would stand by the minorities and would not betray their interests for political gains. “We will continue to share their happiness and sorrow.”

On the attacks on minorities during the Vajpayee regime, Karunanidhi recalled that he had, along with the Left parties and the TMC, administered a pledge on communal amity.“ Even Rangarajan Kumaramangalam can take the vow and his leaders Vajpayee and Advani also can do so”. However, Kumaramangalam preferred not to comment. Karunanidhi went on to point out that at the public meeting held to condemn the attacks on minorities, he had said that such incidents were taking place in non BJP-ruled States also, like Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.