Not a delayed thanks-giving: Rajkumar

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, JAN. 26. Veteran Kannada actor, Mr. Rajkumar, whose release from the forest brigand, Veerappan, had embroiled the Tamil Nadu Government in a controversial rescue effort, today dispelled impressions of a delayed thanks-giving to the Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi.

``I had already thanked him over the telephone immediately after the release, though my personal visit to Chennai has been delayed'', Mr. Rajkumar told the media after a 20-minute meeting with the Chief Minister at his Gopalapuram residence.

Disagreeing with a view that he had the time to ``go around Karnataka to thank his fans'', but had little time for Tamil Nadu, Mr. Rajkumar said, he did not make any such extensive tour of Karnataka as claimed, after his release on November 15 last year. Stating that he had come to formally thank Mr. Karunanidhi and the State Government for ``all the trouble taken'' by them to get him released, Mr. Rajkumar said he had not been keeping good health, apart from some personal preoccupations at Mysore.

At another level, Mr. Rajkumar sought to assuage ruffled Tamil sentiments over his delayed visit, by explaining that his ancestral home was within Tamil Nadu and that he had been a resident of Chennai for nearly 30 years.

Mr. Rajkumar clearing the air was significant, as the issue recently figured in the Tamil Nadu Assembly with the Opposition TMC charging his avoidance of Chennai to thank Mr.Karunanidhi, as being linked to the actor ``perceiving a nexus'' between Veerappan and the State Government when he was in captivity.

Mr. Rajkumar, in a simple South Indian attire of `dhothi' and shirt, was accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Parvathamma, and his son, Mr. Raghavendra Rajkumar.

Earlier, he had a 45-minute emotional meeting with another veteran film actor, Sivaji Ganesan, whose entire family was introduced to him at the latter's T.Nagar residence.

To a query, Mr. Rajkumar said he did not discuss the issue of granting amnesty to Veerappan, which the actor favoured, with Mr. Karunanidhi. ``We came out only on November 14th night'', he asserted, when asked about some reports of his release on November 11 last year.

Asked whether Veerappan had threatened another kidnap or if money had changed hands in the run-up to his release as alleged, Mr. Rajkumar counter-posed, ``do you expect him (brigand) to discuss such things before us? We were only concerned about our early release and Veerappan had treated us well''.

In a lighter vein, Mr. Rajkumar, to another query, said, he had longed to see Veerappan once to see his ``long moustache, though my father had a longer moustache''. And Veerappan ``gave me an opportunity to see him'', he added.

Mr. Karunanidhi, when he came out later, said except inquiring about each other's health, no other issue was discussed with Mr.Rajkumar.

``It was his knee pain that delayed his (Mr.Rajkumar's) visit and he had already sent word through his sons on his health problem'', Mr. Karunanidhi told the waiting media personnel. ``I have suggested the names of a few Ayurdevic experts'', the Chief Minister added.

Regarding his own recent ill-health due to fever and back-pain that had kept him back from the on-going Assembly session for four days, Mr. Karunanidhi said, his health condition was ``slightly better'' now.

Kannada actor, Mr. Rajkumar and his wife, Mrs. Parvathamma, thank the Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi and exchange pleasantries with Mrs. Dayalu Karunanidhi, when they called at the Chief Minister's residence in Chennai on Friday.

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