M Karunanidhi in no mood to celebrate Birthday

On the eve of his 88th birthday, DMK president M Karunanidhi has no peace of mind as he had to weigh options on whether to stay put in Chennai or to fly off to New Delhi to be with his daughter Kanimozhi, who is now in Tihar jail.

Earlier in the day, Karunanidhi said he was in no mood to celebrate. He also bought air tickets for Delhi for himself and party colleagues K Ponmudi, Durai Murugan and Union minister Jagatrakshagan so that he could spend a quite day with Kanimozhi. However, he cancelled his Delhi trip around 10 pm. “I am not in a mood to take part in any of the programmes organised on my birthday on June 3 except for paying homage at the memorials of Anna and Periyar. The DMK cadre should not insist on meeting me in person to greet me on June 3 either at my residence or at DMK headquarters. The DMK cadre and people of Tamil Nadu should excuse me for this,” he said in a statement.

Last week, DMK general secretary K Anbazhagan called upon the party cadre to celebrate the birthday of Karunanidhi in a grand manner. The occasion was expected to lift the spirits of the cadre who were worried about the DMK’s debacle in the Assembly polls. On May 23, he had visited Delhi and met Kanimozhi.