DMK holds emergency meet to counter 'political vendetta'

, Oct 1: The

, one if the key allies in the UPA government at the Centre, was holding an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss strategies to counter the ruling

's 'political vendetta'. The meeting would be held under the chairmanship of party chief

at the party headquarters Anna Arivalayam here.

The DMK had claimed last week that a series of cases were being slapped on its leaders, with some even detained under the Goondas Act by the government. According to the party sources, this was done to 'prevent its leaders from participating in parliamentary elections'.

The party had taken a firm stand opposing the Centre's recent decision to increase diesel price and allow FDI in multi-brand retail. It even refused to send candidates to the Union Cabinet to replace A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran, both of whom had quit in the wake of the telecom scandal. Karunanidhi also said that the party would neither nominate anybody for any ministerial post in the central government in case there is any reshuffle nor it would accept additional ministerial berths. A reshuffle is likely after the Trinamool Congress pulled out of the Centre last month.

The party, which has maintained a distance from the Congress since the Tamil Nadu assembly elections last year and is opposing the UPA government on issues like the FDI, is worried that the ruling AIADMK could target it more and bring more and more stringent measures against it senior leaders.

The meeting will also occur at a time when Karunanidhi's grandson Durai Dayanidhi's arrest over the granite scam case looks imminent. Dayanidhi has been absconding after a firm linked to him was found guilty of indulging in illegal mining activities near Madurai. Dayanidhi's lawyers had applied for an anticipatory bail but it was turned down by the Madras High Court last week.

Meanwhile, sources said that the DMK would seek rollback in the UPA's decision.

OneIndia News