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Karunanidhi ready to back Congress govt
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M Karunanidhi said the party would go by the United Front's decision on extending support to the Congress or joining a Congress-led coalition government at the Centre.
Addressing the media after the party's debacle in the election, he said the UF would meet in a couple of days to discuss the issue.
"We are for a stable and able government at the Centre and the
party would take a decision keeping in mind the interest of the
party and the nation," he added.
Asked how was it possible for the UF to extend support to the
Congress -- which had pulled down the combine's government citing the Jain Commission report which indicted the DMK -- he said, ''After the election, some of the Congress leaders had given a clean chit to the party, stating that none of the 28 accused who were sentenced to death in connection with the Rajiv Gandhi assassination belonged to the DMK.''
On the DMK-Tamil Maanila Congress combine's dismal show, he said the people were carried away by the Bharatiya Janata Party's stability plank. But he had his own doubts whether it could give a stable government. The serial bomb blasts in Coimbatore were also one of the reasons for the defeat, he added.
Karunanidhi, however, said the Congress had not approached
the party so far, seeking its support.
"Let the marriage first take place," he said, when asked whether
the DMK would participate in a government formed by the Congress with UF support.
Asked about his Andhra Pradesh counterpart and UF convener
N Chandrababu Naidu's reported move to support the BJP, he said he was not aware of this.
The chief minister did not agree with a suggestion that the
DMK's poor performance in the Lok Sabha poll was the result of the anti-incumbency factor. The ruling party had retained the two assembly seats for which by-elections were held simultaneously, he pointed out.
He said the UF government's performance in the last two
years had led the people to believe that the BJP could provide a
stable government.
The UF's failure to project a prime ministerial candidate also
affected its credentials, he said.
Karunanidhi ruled out his resignation, as demanded by Pattali Makkal Katchi leader S Ramadoss and Janata Party president Dr Subramanian Swamy, in the wake of this poll outcome, saying it was not an anti-establishment verdict.
"I am not afraid of dangers," he said when asked whether he
apprehended danger to his government if the BJP formed the
government at the Centre.
Replying to a question, Karunanidhi said all predictions
including the pre-poll and exit poll surveys and his own assessment with regard to the election in the state had been proved wrong.
He denied that the DMK government had a soft corner for Muslim fundamentalists. "I have reiterated at several poll meetings that the government would be harsh on both Muslim and Hindu fundamentalists and their organisations," he said.
He also disagreed that the majority community had voted against
the government for its alleged soft corner for the minorities. If
this was the case, the DMK-TMC combine could not have secured 10.9 million votes as against the 12.4 million votes secured by the AIADMK-led front, he said.
There is no point in discussing about the past, he said when
asked whether the non-inclusion of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the MGR ADMK and the Pudhiya Tamizhagam had affected the DMK-TMC front's victory prospects.
UNI
Elections '98
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