Tiruvarur: Defending daughter Kanimozhi, jailed
in the 2G scam case, DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Sunday said it was
he who insisted on her being a shareholder in Kalaignar TV, to
which the money related to the spectrum allocation was routed.
"Kanimozhi`s mistake is my mistake. It was I who compelled
her to become a shareholder in Kalaignar TV with a view to
settle a base for her future," he said addressing a public
meeting in his native constituency.
The 88-year-old former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister claimed
that CBI, which is probing the case, had named his daughter, a
Rajya Sabha member, since it had to hold someone accountable.
"What was earlier estimated to be a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh
crore (caused to the exchequer by the alleged wrongful
policies of jailed former Telecom Minster A Raja), has now
shrunk to Rs 30,000 crore. What affected the company
(Kalaignar TV) affected Kanimozhi," he said.
Kanimozhi, whom he said had taken all efforts for the
party`s victory in the April 13 Assembly polls, was
"languishing in Tihar jail," in conditions not so favourable.
"The temperature there is such that a flower will dry in 10
minutes if it is kept in the open," Karunanidhi, who had met
his daughter recently there, said.
He, however, said that his daughter was facing the situation
and had asked his elder daughter Selvi to take care of him.
"She said she was not worried and asked us not to worry as
the Dravidian movement had given her the strength," he said.
Karunanidhi said before "sorrow destroys" him, he will do
all in his might to save and nurture the Dravidian movement.
Kanimozhi, a minority stake-holder in the channel, has
been jailed over transaction of Rs 200 crore from 2G accused
Shahid Balwa`s firm, DB Realty.
While the DMK patriarch started mentioning about his
retirement from active politics, he quickly changed track and
said that he would not quit from public life (as of now).
On his party`s recent electoral loss at the hands of
arch-rival AIADMK, he said this would allow the party to
sharpen and strengthen the Dravidian ideals and policies.
Charging a section of media with carrying reports targeting
his family, Karunanidhi said he was aware of the conspiracy
behind these, but warned nothing would destroy the Dravidian
movement.
Taking exception to Jayalalithaa government`s proposal to
scrap previous DMK regime`s initiatives such as stopping
construction on the new Assembly-Secretariat complex, he said
that it was not an initiative meant against her.
Though Jayalalithaa had proposed to shift the Assembly
building elsewhere to Kotturpuram during her 2001-06 regime,
DMK had, however, chosen the sprawling Omandurar Government
Estate to house the new Legislative Assembly-Secretariat
complex.
"Fort St George is a British era construction and we wanted
to run the Assembly in a building built by a government in
independent India," he said.
PTI
