I am ready to work more for T.N.: Karunanidhi

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, MAY 8. Expressing dismay at battle-scarred communist veterans like Mr. R. Nallakannu and Mr. N. Sankariah suffering ``humiliation for the sake of four or five seats'' at the hands of the AIADMK leader, Ms. Jayalalitha, the DMK president, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, today wondered whether people would still want to vote for a party led by ``such an arrogant person''.

Winding up the NDA's poll campaign here, Mr. Karunanidhi said that notwithstanding the intensive campaign by leaders like the former Finance Minister and TMC-DF founder, Mr. P. Chidambaram, and DMK campaigners including himself, people of Tamil Nadu still needed to be vigilant.

``In fighting to uphold the Tamils' self-respect all these years in my public life, my fingers have thinned out, my voice is losing its sense of modulation and my body is subject to utter fatigue. But if the Tamils still need to be persuaded and convinced on this issue by people like Chidambaram, Murasoli Maran and myself, I am willing to write, speak and work more for you'', Mr. Karunanidhi told the audience in an emotive vein.

Summing up the impressions of his campaign for the DMK-led front, Mr.Chidambaram said while the contest was clearly between the former and the AIADMK-led alliance, the electorate had to consider only two questions: ``To which party will you entrust Tamil Nadu for the next five years ?'' and ``who will be the next Chief Minister ?''

The DMK-led front had categorically projected Mr.Karunanidhi as the next Chief Minister, even as the performance of the Government in the last five years, in creating infrastructure, setting up new industries, generating jobs and respecting democratic norms was there for everyone to see, said Mr. Chidambaram.

In the `confusion-ridden' other camp, with Ms. Jayalalitha out of the poll race now, any issue raised about her becoming Chief Minister only unfolded an ``apasvara kutcheri'' (a concert with discordant notes), Mr. Chidambaram said.

Ms. Jayalalitha, in her campaign, spoke neither about performance issues nor any plan for the future, but made it a satellite of her own personal predicaments in the wake of the cases against her, Mr.Chidambaram alleged. ``In such circumstances, where will she have time for the concerns of the Tamil Nadu people'', posed the former Finance Minister.

Expressing surprise at the TMC accepting Ms.Jayalalitha's claims to the Chief Minister's post in the post- disqualification context, and the leaders of the AIADMK's other allies like CPI, Congress and the PMK giving evasive replies, Mr. Chidambaram said it was not just a legal question.

The issue whether a `convicted person' could be sworn in as Chief Minister involved larger questions of political values and democratic norms. ``Did not Ms. Jayalalitha ask the former AIADMK nominee in the Union Cabinet, Mr. Sedapatti Muthiah, to quit his post after he was chargesheeted ?'', asked Mr. Chidambaram.

Urging the people to consider their precious votes ``seeds to sow a better future for generations to come'', Mr.Chidambaram in backing the DMK said, ``you are indeed voting for posterity when you help to restore the self-respect of the Tamils, for a humane society and good governance''.

Senior DMK leader and Union Industries Minister, Mr.Murasoli Maran said this was a critical time for Tamil Nadu as the people's choice will decide the fate of the State. ``You must decide what is good for your posterity'', Mr. Maran said and urged the people to give a `good verdict'. ``Or else, Tamil Nadu will be engulfed by danger and darkness'', warned Mr. Maran.

Film star Sarath Kumar, representatives of various NDA allies including the BJP, DPI, New Justice Party, MGR-Kazhagam, MGR-ADMK and Tamil Maanila Desiya League, were among those who addressed the concluding campaign meeting.

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