Karunanidhi rules out snap polls to Lok Sabha

Tiruchirapalli, Sep 28 (UNI) Ruling out the possibility of mid-term Lok Sabha polls, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M Karunanidhi today ridiculed the BJP for demanding the dismissal of his government on the ground of breakdown of law and order.

Talking to newspersons here, he said there was no scope for immediate elections to the Lok Sabha and rejected a suggestion that the Congress had appointed Rahul Gandhi as General Secretary of the party with an eye on early elections.

Asked whether the DMK was ready for the elections, if it was held early, he shot back, ''we are running a political party and how can we say we are not ready for the elections.'' To a question, whether he desired the present alliance to continue for the Lok Sabha elections, Mr Karunanidhi, in a lighter vein, said ''we will go by what the media says.'' On BJP leaders submitting a memorandum to President Pratibha Patil, demanding the dismissal of the DMK government, on the ground that there was breakdown of law and order in the state, the Chief Minister expressed surprise that ''leaders like Mr L K Advani are telling such lies.'' ''Their (BJP leaders) conscious know better,'' Mr Karunanidhi said.

Referring to the attack on BJP headquarters, he said ten people were immediately arrested following the incident.

Taking a dig at Narendra Singh Modi's governance in Gujarat, the DMK leader, in a sarcastic remark, said ''it is a bundle of contradiction that leaders of a party of ''Ahimsa moorthi'' (Mr Modi) ruling in Gujarat, have complained to the President to sack the DMK government.'' About October 1 bandh on the Sethusamudram Shipping Channel Project (SSCP), Mr Karunanidhi said it was not a state-sponsored bandh. The bandh was announced by the DMK and its allies, to draw the attention of the Centre over the people's demand for speedy implementation of project.

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