CHENNAI: “Though she has lost weight, Kanimozhi is mentally strong,” Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader M Karunanidhi said on his return to the city on Tuesday after a visit to New Delhi.He was in the national capital over the weekend, where he met his daughter, who is in jail for her alleged role in the 2G spectrum scam.The Delhi court will pass orders on her bail petition on November 3 as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) did not oppose it, he said.When asked if there were political motives behind the delay in her daughter’s bail plea, Karunanidhi maintained that he was not sure about it.Karunanidhi, who also met Sonia Gandhi during his trip, said that the Congress leader was recuperating from her illness. “Sonia Gandhi inquired about the well-being of Kanimozhi,” he added.On the recent civic polls, he said that the increase in the percentage of votes that the DMK polled (26 per cent), could not be attributed to the fact that the party snapped ties with the Congress. In reply to query on whether his party would contest alone in all future elections, he said that such a decision “will be at the discretion of senior party leaders.” However, “It is too early to comment on the performance of the ruling party,” Karunanidhi quipped in response to another poser.On his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Karunanidhi said the Koodankulam issue, improper disbursal of relief measures to Sri Lankan Tamils, the death penalty awarded to Santhan, Murugan, and Perarivalan and the notification of recommendations for the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, were the issues discussed.“Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was receptive to the request to commute the death sentence awarded to the trio, who have already spent 20 years in prison (in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case),” he said.The DMK patriarch, in response to a question on Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s appearance in a Bangalore court in connection with the disproportionate wealth case against her, said, “People of Tamil Nadu will bear anything and it remains a fact forever.” Reacting to the Chief Minister’s remark on the Centre’s ‘step-motherly treatment’ to the State, he said that it was surprising that Jayalalithaa, who ridiculed the DMK for making such a remark in the past, was using the same terminology.
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