'Karuna soft on UPA for daughter's sake'

Chennai (IANS): DMK president M Karunanidhi does not oppose the training of the Sri Lankan military in India because he wants Congress support to get his daughter Kanimozhi re-elected to the Rajya Sabha, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said on Saturday. "Despite the DMK exiting the central government, Karunanidhi is not opposing the centre because he needs the support of five Congress legislators for his daughter Kanimozhi's reelection," she said. Kanimozhi is one of the two DMK members in the Rajya Sabha who will retire July 24. A total of six members, including Kanimozhi, would retire next month. They are Elavarasan and V Maitreyan from the AIADMK, Tiruchi N Siva and Kanimozhi from the DMK, B S Gnanadesikan of Congress and D Raja of the Communist Party of India. The AIADMK leader has become a vocal critic of India's Sri Lanka policy, and accused Colombo of committing large-scale atrocities during the end stages of the war that crushed the Tamil Tigers. Jayalalithaa also charged Karunanidhi with betraying the interests of Tamil Nadu on the issue of Cauvery river water sharing in favour of Karnataka. Jayalalithaa said it was because of her government's efforts in the Supreme Court that the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) was notified in the official gazette. She said Karunanidhi did nothing to get the final award notified in the gazette despite being in power in the state and also in New Delhi.