The Hindu : Front Page : “Personal attacks unacceptable”

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Sunday, Jun 15, 2008
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“Personal attacks unacceptable”

R.K. Radhakrishnan

There was no provocation from the DMK, says Karunanidhi

CHENNAI: It was not the sustained attack on the government’s policies, but the verbal personal attacks on the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leadership by the Pattali Makkal Katchi that forced Chief Minister and DMK president M. Karunanidhi to announce a review of the alliance.

Mr. Karunanidhi has always held that all parties, including those in alliance with the DMK, are free to criticise the government’s policies. What he and the DMK found unacceptable were the verbal personal attacks and the threats issued by PMK speakers, notably J. Guru, a former MLA. “How can any person belonging to any party speak in any forum like this?” Mr. Karunanidhi asked.

He was particularly upset with the words Mr. Guru used against party treasurer and Electricity Minister Arcot N. Veeraswami, Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology A. Raja and party MLA S. Sivasankar.

Recorded version

In the recorded version, Mr. Guru is heard saying that if cases are foisted on PMK functionaries, then Mr. Raja, Mr. Sivasankar and others will not be alive.

Referring to this, Mr. Karunanidhi said regardless of whose head is cut off, only blood will flow.

The sad fact was that a senior member of an alliance partner was willing to go to this extent. “What does this denote?” he asked, and replied that this could only mean that that party was preparing for war.

The Chief Minister asserted there was no provocation from the DMK. “A section of the media is trying to make it look as if the DMK and the PMK were squabbling…This is not the fact,” he told The Hindu.

The delay in the DMK taking up the issue — though they were aware of the speech earlier — was because it did not have in its possession material evidence of the speech. Once the party treasurer found the evidence, he presented it to the Chief Minister.

Senior DMK activists are glad that their leader has decided to be firm with the PMK. Many of the leaders in the northern belt, especially in the composite Arcot district, have been exceedingly uncomfortable over the PMK’s attacks at the grassroots level.

The DMK leadership had advised them not to launch a frontal attack on an alliance partner and told them that any action required would be taken at an appropriate time by the leadership. These leaders are now breathing easy over the developments.

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