Karunanidhi’s ‘third’ take: DMK options open on PM

When countered that during his election campaign he had been projecting Congress president Sonia Gandhi as the next Prime Minister, Karunanidhi said: ‘‘That is my view.’’ If his opinion would hold if a third front emerged, he said: ‘‘You will see at that time how we act. Our actions will not be determined by what is favourable for us, but by the common good.’’

Karunanidhi also slammed PM Vajpayee for failign to bail out MDMK general secretary Vaiko when he was jailed under POTA. Reacting to the PM’s demand that the DMK make clear its reasons for quitting the NDA, Karunanidhi said the Government refused to withdraw POTA despite repeated demands. ‘‘Instead, they only set up a review committee…Vajpayee did not even have the guts to take up the issue with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister who was objecting even to such a committee…Even if he had wanted to, Advani wouldn’t have agreed,’’ he said.

The BJP had also gone back on its commitment to the NDA agenda on the Ayodhya temple, he said. Karunanidhi pointed out that the DMK had consistently made its objections clear. The party passed resolutions listing out its demands in the party conference at Villupuram in September last year and conducted several agitations. ‘‘But they ignored all that. They did not even bother to ask us what our demands were.’’