Karunanidhi refutes charges on disrespect to Sarath Kumar

Chennai, Apr 18 (UNI) Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) President M Karunanidhi today denied that the party had failed to respect the Nadar community and give prominence to actor Sarath Kumar, who quit the party and joined the ruling AIADMK.

Reacting to charges to this effect by Nadar Peravai President A Narayanan, Mr Karunanidhi, in a statement here said Sarath Kumar was honoured with the nomination for a Rajya Sabha seat, when the party was in a position to nominate only one person for the seat.

When many partymen were eyeing the seat, it had selected Mr Sarath Kumar for the prestigious post, the DMK leader said. He was, however, not made a Union Minister as he continued in the acting profession.

The late Chief Minister M G Ramachandran was not made Minister when the DMK came to power in 1967 as he was busy in the film field then and the same yardstick was applied to Sarath Kumar, he said.

He said the DMK never ignored the Nadars and it had appointed A V P Asai Thambi from the Nadar community as President of the Tamil Nadu Tourism Corporation and he was later elected as Member of Parliament.

When the DMK came to power in 1967, 'Tamizhar Thanthai' C P Adithanar was made Assembly Speaker and when he became Chief Minister after the death of C N Annadurai, Adithanar was made Minister for Agriculture and Cooperation, Mr Karunanidhi pointed out.

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