Karuna takes on Modi over criticism of DMK

Joining issue with Narendra Modi over criticism of his party besides ruling All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam, Dravida Munetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Monday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party leader's comments will only earn him the wrath of people of Tamil Nadu but remained tightlipped on Rajnikanth's praise for the Gujarat chief minister.

"He had launched his election campaign for the first time in Tamil Nadu. And he made a very nice statement. (He) needs no other reason to earn the wrath of the people of the state," Karunanidhi said in response to reporters' queries

The BJP's prime ministerial candidate had said arch rivals, the DMK and the AIADMK settle political scores whenever they were in power. "They waste their time to finish off each other. When the AIADMK is in power, it targets the DMK and vice-versa. They are not worried about the welfare of the people," he had charged at an election rally in Chennai on Sunday.

On 'Superstar' Rajinikant's words of praise for Modi, describing him as an able administrator during the duo's meeting at the former's Poes Garden residence, Karunanidhi declined to say anything.

"No comments. I don't want to say anything," said the DMK chief, who alongwith the erstwhile Tamil Maanila Congress in 1996 drubbed the then ruling AIADMK with Rajinikanth himself publicly supporting the combine.