Hot on the 2G spectrum money trail, a CBI team questioned Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi's daughter and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, his wife Dayalu Ammal and the managing director of the family-owned Kalaignar TV, Sharad Kumar here on Friday. The questioning of Karunanidhi's clan members by the agency comes in the run-up to assembly elections a month away.
The CBI team, comprising four members and led by an officer who had questioned former telecom minister A Raja, arrived at the Anna Arivalayam, the DMK headquarters in the city, at about 10.45am and interrogated the three for about two hours.
The probe focussed on the Rs 206-crore transaction to Kalaignar TV in 2009, arranged by DB Group, which owns Swan Telecom, one of the biggest beneficiaries of the 2G spectrum allocation by Raja. While Dayalu Ammal, who was accompanied by Karunanidhi's nephew Amirtham, was questioned for about half-an-hour, Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar, who arrived together, were quizzed for about two hours, 11.30am onwards.
Karunanidhi, who was at Anna Arivalayam interviewing candidates, waited for the questioning of his daughter to end before leaving the premises. Kanimozhi's car joined the CM's convoy and the two headed for their CIT Colony residence where they are said to have discussed the issue. Later, Kanimozhi told reporters, "We are cooperating with the CBI. They wanted a few clarifications based on what Sharad had told them. They wanted us to substantiate some facts and clarify. We have done that. No documents were taken." Sources said Kanimozhi was also questioned about her conversations in the Niira Radia tapes. A source said the CBI official asked Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar about 20 questions each. The team sought clarifications from Sharad on how he managed to return the funds, with interest, to the DB Group and asked for material evidence, including receipts. Every reply was recorded and typed by a woman officer. When Dayalu Ammal was questioned, Kanimozhi and Sharad helped translate her replies that were in Tamil. Kalaignar TV is part owned by Kanimozhi, who holds 20% shares, and Dayalu Ammal, who has a 60% stake.Just when MK Stalin is looking good with those sunglasses on and feeling nice rubbing against the warm wood of the DMK throne, there are noises. His brother and Union minister MK Alagiri has said he cannot accept anyone else than his father M Karunanidhi as his leader. A couple of weeks ago, Karunanidhi’s wife Rajathi Ammal had also said the same. It’s too much for a loving wife and a caring son to digest when the 86-year-old patriarch keeps hinting at his retirement.
Especially since the son has been nurturing the dream of heading DMK and the wife has been having such modest ambitions as making her daughter Kanimozhi a Union minister with a powerful portfolio. So, the status quo cries have an unequal mix of love and concern.Whatever that be, Stalin’s coronation is only the next logical progression of Karunanidhi’s long-drawn plans. It’s not that Karunanidhi didn’t try to propel his elder sons MK Muthu and Alagiri. While Muthu fell flat under the weight of his father’s expectations, Alagiri showed his might in the south, but failed to endear himself to a larger population within and outside the party.Karunanidhi cannot dodge accusations of promoting dynastic politics, but none can dispute Stalin’s methodical rise. It is difficult to tell if it is acceptance or reconciliation to the inevitable, but even middleclass women are no longer shocked at imagining Stalin at the helm of DMK—and possibly the state.From campaigning for the 1967 elections as a 14-year-old to remaining in the Dravidian political limelight during the dark days of Emergency, Stalin has enough roots to withstand the winds. Stalin, now 56, has been a slow learner alright, but he did learn, to be what he is today. Even after becoming the Mayor of Chennai and a legislator, Stalin remained in the shadows of his father, not interacting much with the media.Assigned the managerial post of the DMK campaign, the 2001 assembly elections was the litmus test for Stalin. And he failed. Not that it affected the chances of his ascension, but the father wanted Stalin to prove his mettle before taking over the mantle. Stalin was made the deputy general secretary in 2003. Probably he started showing results after that. From revitalising party units across the state, even while filling them with his loyal men, to the dazzling show of the DMK in the last general elections, Stalin had enough credit and eligibility when he was named the deputy chief minister last year.Karunanidhi’s retirement will no doubt be an emotional episode in the Dravidian mega serial, but a dispassionate, clinical analysis shows that Stalin would make a better leader for the party. Here is how: Right now, Karunanidhi is under tremendous pressure from different members of his extended family. While apportioning the power pie between the warring Dayanidhi Maran and Azhagiri, the octogenarian is also answerable to Rajathi Ammal when she asks how the patriarch could ignore her daughter Kanimozhi.On another side, Karunanidhi has to keep his daughter Selvi, who is married to Murasoli Maran’s brother, by keeping the interests of the Marans fulfilled.Stalin need not yield to such pressure groups within the family. By virtue of being an inheritor and not the patriarch, Stalin will not have to bend over backwards to accommodate the whims and fancies of the big family. This would augur well for a party, which still preserves some remnants of its cadre-based past. As more voices within the party units will resonate over the cacophony of warring family members, party cadres may redefine and rediscover the purpose of their toil. In other words, the DMK will become more party-centric and less family-centric. That it takes an inheritor to lead the DMK from dynasty to democracy is a case of classic irony.
CHENNAI: DMK MP and Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi, who was questioned by CBI on the 2G spectrum allocation scam, on Friday said full cooperation was being extended to the agency."We are answering everything and whatever is required. We are cooperating with CBI, unlike many political leaders who don't," Kanimozhi, who was questioned along with Karunanidhi's wife Dayalu at the DMK headquarters here, told reporters.This showed their intention to "come out clean" on the issue, she said.
Kanimozhi said she was "asked to substantiate" on the statement issued by Kalaignar TV Managing Director Sharad Kumar on certain financial dealings.Kanimozhi, who along with Dayalu collectively holds 80 per cent stake in the DMK-backed channel, said DMK never pressured the (Central) government on dealing with the case and added that the Supreme Court was monitoring the probe.Do you want me toe the BJP line," she shot back when asked if the Congress-led UPA was trying to use CBI against political parties.Kalaignar TV had recently denied CBI's allegations that there was a connection between scam accused Shahid Balwa-promoted Swan Telecom and the channel, with the agency telling a court that "it has also come to light that there was a transaction of Rs 214 crore from Cineyug Films Private Limited to Kalaignar TV in 2009".Kumar had denied receiving pay-offs from DB realty, whose former chief Balwa is in CBI net along with former Union telecom minister A Raja.
On Thursday, a day after the Central Bureau of Investigations arrested Raja, Karunanidhi wrote the party’s 2011 electoral epitaph through a resolution endorsed by his party’s general council: ‘Merely because Raja is arrested, he cannot be considered guilty.’
How a leader considered a master strategist could commit such a double fault in quick succession beats me. Had it been from someone with principles, I could understand the suicidal tendency. For a leader who has dropped alliance partners and party lieutenants before one could spell d-h-a-r-m-a, principles cannot be the reason for the systematic hara-kiri.
The problem with such irrational acts of self-proclaimed rationalists is that you can’t make out if they are born out of fear or foolhardiness. But once you come to understand that foolhardiness is often the flip side of fear, you see things clearer. And the seemingly irrational acts suddenly have two legitimate parents!
So, what does Kalaignar fear? Of being labelled guilty, apparently. When the spectrum issue was hotting up in November after the Comptroller & Auditor General put the loss of public money through 2G at Rs 1,76,000 crore, and pointed to several irregularities by Raja, Karunanidhi refused to remove him from the cabinet or the party post of propaganda secretary. His fear: Raja’s removal would amount to admission of guilt, which he had to share with his prodigy.
For not just the party, but part of Chennai’s first family too, Raja has been an obedient young man who earned more than just brownie points. That was a good reason to support him. But why did the leader not support him in private and disown him in public? Realpolitik, yes, wouldn’t that been a smart thing to do?
That would have silenced the political rivals and the media for a while, and even taken a bit of steam off the controversy and, probably, the probe. And the DMK would have got some time to devise new distractions before the poll bugle sounds in a couple of months.
Karunanidhi’s fears compounded when Raja was forced to quit as the telecom minister on November 15, 2010. It has now manifested as a reckless show of courage to move a resolution supporting Raja, though he was removed from the party post. This reverberated at an impressive DMK show at Saidapet in the evening. But lost in the din were some political realities-present and impending. The arrest has given more ammo to the Opposition, myriad stories for the media, and more than a migrane for the DMK.
Now, Congress, which never got to taste power since 1967, will become more demanding with the DMK. Karunanidhi’s other probable allies like PMK may try to put their feet down. When the poll bandwagons start rolling, DMK’s ousted propaganda secretary would be at the centre of the Opposition propaganda. And, if J Jayalalithaa has turned any wiser, Rs 1,76,000 crore could be the astronomical number that could be printed on placards and posters across the state.
However, it is still too early to say if DMK would go on to drive the last nail in its own coffin. For, Indian politics has shown that a foolish Opposition can bring back a foolhardy ruling party from brain death.Sonia Gandhi, , has been described as a person who wields unequaled influence over 1.2 billion Indians and "after being elected as Congress president for the record fourth term she has cemented her status as true heiress to the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty."
The DMK blinked on Tuesday, giving in to the Congress's demand for 63 seats hours after Sonia Gandhi stunned the Dravidian partner into submission by shrugging off its threat to withdraw from the government with a bluntspeak on coalition dharma. "I don't care whether this government lives or goes," the Congress chief is learnt to have told DMK ministers M K Alagiri and Dayanidhi Maran late on Monday night, making it clear that she was not fazed by Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi's threat to pull out. The rebuke, reported by TOI on Monday, cleared the way for the DMK's climbdown. With the two sides engaged in tough bargaining,Karunanidhi suddenly ramped up the pressure on Saturday, accusing the Congress of trying to push his party out of the UPA. He said the six Union ministers from the DMK would put in their papers on Monday. If it was meant to be a pressure tactic, the resignation threat seems to have boomeranged—it only provoked Sonia's ire. "It is not a question of seats. It is not a question of my prestige. The prestige of the Indian National Congress has been hurt," the Congress chief is learnt to have told Karunanidhi's interlocutors on Saturday. She wondered how an ally could be so rude to a party which has always played fair. She also told Alagiri and Maran, as reported by TOI on Monday, that the DMK's conduct was violative of coalition manners, stressing that the Congress had all along been accommodative of the southern party's political demands. Further, she is reported to have said the fact that the DMK was back at the negotiating table underscored the futility of Saturday's aggression. Sonia's toughness defined her party's stance during the "seat-to-seat" combat between the allies on Tuesday, with the Congress refusing to yield on its demand for 63 seats. It did not relent even when the DMK pointed to its compulsion of having to accommodate other allies like the PMK and the Muslim League. The Congress side, represented by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Sonia's political secretary Ahmed Patel, is learnt to have shrugged it off as the DMK's concern. The two sides, however, agreed to mutually identify the seats the Congress will contest. On the issue of power-sharing, the Congress agreed that a formal announcement could be made after the polls. Sonia's assertiveness—a stark contrast from PM Manmohan Singh's recent invocation of coalition compulsions—must have come as a shock to the DMK. The Congress chief rarely gets into the complexities of seat-sharing, leaving the task to her trusted colleagues. So, when she agreed to meet the DMK ministers, particularly Alagiri who had taken a hard line on Congress's demand, they must have felt that the Congress may have softened on its initial resoluteness. They certainly would not have bargained for the bluntspeak on coalition dharma.
Not that all of the "we don't care" attitude was plain death-over-disgrace machismo. The Congress realized that the DMK was vulnerable to counter-aggression. Also, the party would be loathe to go without the Congress, which has a good 8% vote, against the AIADMK-Vijayakanth combo in the wake of the 2G spectrum controversy. Moreover, allies like the PMK and the VCK would also see the DMK alliance as weak without the Congress and prevail upon the DMK to keep the national party in. The increase in the Congress tally of three seats will be compensated by one each from the kitty of the DMK, PMK and the Muslim League.
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