Prime Minister Narendra Modi sprang a surprise by calling on ailing DMK Chief M. Karunanidhi at his residence on Monday.
In a last minute addition to his itinerary during his Chennai visit Modi decided to meet Karunanidhi, who has been confined to his home due to age related ailments. So after attending Tamil daily Dina Thanthi’s platinum jubilee celebrations and the wedding of the daughter of T.V. Somanathan, a senior IAS officer of the PMO, Modi went to Karunanidhi’s house in Gopalapuram in South-Central Chennai.
Modi was received by Karunanidhi’s son and DMK’s working president M.K. Stalin, who had cut short his foreign trip for the purpose, and Karunanidhi’s daughter and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi. The Prime Minister spent about 15 minutes with Karunanidhi before driving down to the airport.
Modi’s decision to meet Karunanidhi surprised not only BJP and AIADMK leaders but also the DMK leadership. The DMK has been firmly entrenched with the Congress and is even all set to observe Nov 8, the first anniversary of demonetization, as black day. So Modi’s visit, though ostensibly viewed as a courtesy call, could actually dilute the DMK’s anti-BJP platform.
“It is premature to conclude that the BJP is wooing DMK politically and issuing an indirect warning to the AIADMK. The DMK and BJP may never be political allies. Modi knows it and so does Stalin. But the visit has endeared Modi to DMK’s cadres because he has done the unexpected. To that extent it can weaken the DMK’s resolve in taking on the Centre and create friction in its ties with the Congress. It’s a clever gambit by Modi,” observed political analyst Ravindran Duraiswamy.
Modi also used the Dina Thanthi function to reconnect with some of his old political allies like PMK leaders Dr. Ramadoss and Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss and MDMK’s Vaiko as he came down from the dais to meet up with the dignitaries in the audience. He greeted Rajinikanth, Apollo Hospital’s Dr. Prathap Reddy and The Hindu’s N. Ram as well.
In an interesting twist actor Kamal Hassan, failed to show up at the Dina Thanthi function in spite of being invited whereas his fellow film star Rajinikanth participated with his daughter Aishwarya and son in law actor Dhanush. “Kamal could have been deterred by the presence of a large number of BJP cadres outside the venue, who could have raised slogans against him for his comments on Hindu terror,” said one of the organisers.
