TN first to celebrate country's woman President: Karunanidhi

Chennai, June 20 (UNI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M Karunanidhi today said the state's name will be etched in the annals of the country's history as the first to celebrate the nomination of a woman president, by organising a women's rally here.

He said Ms Pratibha Patil, the UPA's nominee for presidential election, was the first woman to adorn the top constitutional office, 60 years after independence.

About the July one women's rally to be organised by the DMK, in which Ms Patil was expected to participate, the party patriarch said women in large numbers congregating in the city and taking out a procession against the injustice to their ilk would be the highlight of the event.

To a question about Kodanadu estate, allegedly owned by AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa, Mr Karunanidhi sought to know whether the former Chief Minister had accepted lying about her ownership of the property and her investment in it along with her close aide Sasikala, in the light of 'evidence' in this regard.

On the crisis being faced by sugarcane growers in the state, he said he had directed Agriculture Minister Veerapandi S Arumugam to hold talks with the stakeholders.

UNI