Chennai: DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Tuesday said he has not sought any replacement in the Union Cabinet reshuffle for the party in the wake of resignations of A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran over the 2G spectrum scam.
“No,” was his reply when reporters asked if he had asked for inclusion of any DMK members in today’s cabinet reshuffle.
Asked if Tamil Nadu’s representation in the Cabinet will come down in the wake of his party’s reluctance, he said the DMK’s General Council meet in Coimbatore on July 24 would discuss these issues.
On whether he discussed the issue of his daughter Kanimozhi, now in Tihar jail in the 2G case, during his meeting with senior Congress leader and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday, he replied in the negative.
Asked to comment on the Jayalalithaa government revising sales tax rates to mop up Rs 3,900 crore, Karunanidhi said, “It is a burden chosen by the people,” in an apparent reference to the massive mandate given by the electorate to Jayalalithaa in the April 13 elections.
On the controversy over the previous DMK government’s Uniform System of Education, mired in legal tangles, he said with two months passed after reopening of schools, students were not able to pursue their studies.
“This situation is helplessly being watched by the parents and people who voted for this government,” he said.
On the state government action on land grabbing covering the 2006-11 DMK regime, for which special cells have been formed, he said the party workers had taken up the issue with him. “If land grabbing had indeed taken place, those who did it are liable for action,” he said.
He said it was a fact that DMK, despite not being the Principal Opposition party, was striving for the welfare of the Dravidian community. (PTI)