Karuna faults Centre for Kanimozhi's arrest

Tiruvarur (TN), Jun 6 (PTI) Reflecting further strains
in his party's ties with Indian National Congress, Dravida
Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) chief Karunanidhi has blamed the
Centre for the arrest of his daughter Kanimozhi in the 2G
spectrum case.
"Kanimozhi is in Tihar jail, either it could be due to
Centre's order or complacency," the DMK patriarch said in his
first public meeting after the Assembly polls in his Tiruvarur
constituency here in the south Indian state Tamil Nadu Sunday
night.
Karunanidhi, who often turned emotional during the
meeting, alleged that Kanimozhi had been arrested as the
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India's premier
investigation agency, had to hold someone accountable and said
her mistake was his mistake -- of making her a shareholder in
Kalaignar TV.
"I compelled her to become a shareholder with a view
to secure her future," he said adding she was languishing in
the jail under testing conditions. "You know a flower kept
there will wither away quickly due to the temperature there."
Karunanidhi's comments come two days after he said on
his birthday "...bad friendship will result in trouble."
The DMK chief's remark was seen as a subtle message
about his being sore with his party's seven-year old ally
Congress, with whom his party's ties have not been the best of
late.
The strain in the DMK's alliance with the lead UPA
partner had come out very clearly during seat-sharing
negotiations for the April 13 Assembly polls with the Congress
managing to wrest 63 seats from the DMK. The DMK-Congress alliance came under more stress after
the arrest of the Dravidian party's Dalit face, A Raja, former
Indian Telecom Minister, in the 2G scam.
With the 2G scam reaching the doors of Karunanidhi's
family, leading to the arrest of Kanimozhi, the unease between
the two partners has grown more.