Karuna slams Left's bid to project Jayalalithaa as PM candidate

Dravida Munetra Kazhagam chief M  on Friday slammed Left parties for reportedly trying to project Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa as a candidate for the prime minister's post, saying that the move "is nothing but opportunistic slavery".

"She is facing a disproportionate wealth case. It is nothing but opportunistic slavery," Karunanidhi told media persons.

Talking to the media at the venue of the two-day party conference which is to start in Tiruchi from Saturday, he said the Lok Sabha elections would be forerunner to a change of government in the state after the next Assembly polls.

The ruling All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam has formed an alliance with Left parties for Lok Sabha elections. Jayalalithaa has said that the question as to who gets to become the next prime minister would arise only after the election results are announced.

Meanwhile, as to the speculations of a tie-up between his party and the Congress after his daughter Kanimozhi held a meeting with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Thursday, Karunanidhi said it was just a courtesy call.

He said that DMK could only enter a poll alliance with those who respected the Tamils' feelings, sentiments and unity. He also insisted that the party would give importance to the unity of the nation, secularism and the fight against corruption.

"Respecting others, which was the main policy of Annadurai (DMK founder), would be the basis for any alliance involving the party for the upcoming polls," he said.

He said that Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam chief Vijayakanth was not an exception to these basic principles while adding that the party could also come into the DMK fold if it respected those views.

However, Karunanidhi had on Thursday said that there were "no indications" that a DMK-Congress-DMDK alliance would eventually materialise. The DMK has been openly wooing DMDK in order to strike an alliance, but the party is yet to make its choice clear.

Referring to his elder son MK Alagiri and his supporters who were recently punished by the party, Karunanidhi said that "if their action is forgivable, we will forgive."