By IANS,
Coimbatore : Contrary to its earlier announcements, the DMK’s general council, which met here Sunday, remained silent on the crucial issues of naming two representatives for the union cabinet posts left vacant by its tainted ministers and continuation of its relationship with the Congress.
M. Karunanidhi, chief of Tamil Nadu’s major opposition party, chaired the general council meeting at textile city Coimbatore, around 500 km from Chennai.
The rivalry between Karunanidhi’s sons – M.K. Alagiri and M.K. Stalin – had surfaced at the party’s council meeting Saturday with the latter’s supporters wanting their leader to be elevated, a demand vehemently opposed by Alagiri’s supporters.
The general council, which met for the first time since the state assembly elections in April, passed 25 resolutions Sunday.
However, none of them discussed the party’s relationship with the Congress or sending DMK’s representatives to the central government to fill the slots that fell vacant following the resignations of former communications minister A. Raja and former textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran.
The party leadership had earlier said the matter would be discussed and decided by the general council.
Similarly, the party seems to have nipped in the bud talks about Karunanidhi’s successor, with two resolutions lauding him as the most important leader of the Dravidian movement, saying that his services should continue to lead Tamil Nadu in future.
This, according to party insiders, is a signal to partymen that talk of succession is premature at this stage.
One of the general council resolutions flayed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for opposing bail for Karunanidhi’s daughter and DMK MP Kanimozhi, who is lodged in Tihar Jail as a co-conspirator in the 2G spectrum scam.
Charging the CBI of acting in a discriminatory manner against Kanimozhi, the DMK said keeping her in jail for such a long time is against the principle of natural justice.
Another resolution hoped that both Raja and Maran would come out clean by clearing the charges against them.
On the issue of Sri Lankan Tamils, the DMK said that there should be a referendum on providing equal rights for the Tamils there and that India should act to bring the war criminals to books.
The party also called upon the central government to implement the Sethu canal project at the earliest.
On the proposed Lokpal bill, the party said the prime minister should be covered under the anti-graft law.
The DMK’s general council also passed resolutions condemning the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu for foisting what it called false land grab cases against the partymen and for not distributing the uniform syllabus text books to the school students despite a Supreme Court order.
It also criticised the state government for scrapping the proposal to revive the Upper House in the state.
The DMK has also decided to set up a seven-member committee to suggest ways for the organisational restructuring of the party.