By IANS
Madurai/Chennai : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi Thursday sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the attack on a newspaper office in Madurai by supporters of his son Azhagiri that left three people dead even as opposition parties demanded his resignation.
Opposition parties like the AIADMK and the MDMK demanded that the 84-year-old DMK chief minister step down, saying, "If he does not resign, the central government should dismiss him".
According to police, 18 people, including Madurai Mayor Thenmozhi's husband Gopinath, have been remanded in judicial custody for Wednesday's violence in the offices of the Dinakaran newspaper.
Angry mobs set on fire the office of Dinakaran after it published a poll favouring Karunanidhi's younger son Stalin over Azhagiri as his political heir.
Azhagiri, it is reported, has sent the Sun Television a legal notice, urging that the TV channel and Dinakaran stop blaming him for Wednesday's violence and other crimes.
Meanwhile, the chief minister told the assembly that as the violence was allegedly due to the fraternal feud in his family, it would not be right to have an inquiry by the state police. "A CBI probe has been sought," he said.
Interestingly, the Dinakaran Thursday morning published a survey in which 37 percent people said the police was a corrupt force and took bribes.
Karunanidhi told the assembly, "I knew there would be trouble… I had requested Dinakaran not to publish the survey results, I even sent several emissaries but they did not listen."
Arch rival AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha said Thursday evening: "If he (Karunanidhi) knew that this mayhem would result, why did he not takes steps to stop it?"
"The chief minister holds the home portfolio, he could have taken Azhagiri and his supporters into preventive detention and provided Dinakaran office with protection."
Jayalalitha also said it was inappropriate that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the prime minister were to participate in a DMK function on Friday to mark fifth-time Chief Minister Karunanidhi's 50 years in the assembly.
The Dinakaran, belonging to the Maran family's Sun Group got support today from the Madras Reporters Guild, Madras Union of Journalists, Tamil Nadu Union of Journalists, Chennai Press Club, National Union of Journalists and Tamil Nadu Press Photographers Association, who have all condemned the attack and have decided to stage a protest rally on May 12, demanding "the arrest of those responsible for the attack on the office of Dinakaran in Madurai".
The Hindu's editor-in-chief N. Ram, who addressed the media, accused the Madurai police of registering a "fake FIR" on the attack and violence in the temple town Wednesday.
The Dinakaran had filed a police complaint and has demanded the arrest of Azhagiri, a powerbroker in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu.
The paper said that the local police did not register the actual complaint of Dinakaran journalist Muthupandi, in which 15 people were named.
Muthupandi told reporters today, "Whether it is M.K. Azhagiri, the chief minister's elder son, the first accused, or Mayor Thenmozhi, the second accused, named in the complaint given by the management, police have not taken any action."
"The case registered by police, as we understand, is fake."
It was all quiet Thursday with the government stepping up security in the district. Security has also been provided at the Dinakaran offices in Madurai and Chennai.