Karunanidhi prisoner of circumstances: Vaiko

Chennai, Mar 4 (UNI) Describing DMK President M Karunanidhi as a ''prisoner of circumstances'', MDMK General Secretary Vaiko today blamed him for ''driving out'' the MDMK from the DPA, prompting him to ink a pact with the AIADMK for the May eight Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Vaiko drew a parallel to a similar situation in the 2001 Assembly polls, when a hitch over identification of constituencies with the DMK derailed the nearly-finalised tie-up at the last minute and forced MDMK to contest on its own.

Blaming Mr Karunanidhi, who is heading the DPA in the State, for his party quitting the DPA, the MDMK leader said the DMK Chief's failure to honour his commitment of allotting 25 seats and the ''ill-treatment of MDMK workers'' by the DMK over the last two years were the main reasons for his party to enter into an electoral pact with the AIADMK led by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

''We asked for 23 seats after scaling down from our offer of 25 seats. But Mr Karunanidhi after assuring that he will consider it after the ongoing DMK conference, suddenly announced that the MDMK had to accept the offer of 22 seats if it was to stay in the alliance,'' he added.

Mr Vaiko alleged that Mr Karunanidhi was under pressure from within.

''All parties in the DPA had been asking for more seats. Why should he treat the MDMK differently by allotting 22 seats,' he asked.

''Even if we get the seats, there is no guarantee that we will get the constituencies identified by us. There is also no guarantee that we will receive support from the DMK workers at the local level,'' the MDMK leader bemoaned.

Under these circumstances, the MDMK thought that continuing in the alliance would be an insult to the self-respect of the MDMK and decided to quit the DPA and join the AIADMK.

The tone in which he made the remark (accept 22 seats to stay in the alliance) itself is not in right spirit. It had caused mental agony to me and lakhs of MDMK workers,'' he added.

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