Can?t meet Sonia when Kanimozhi in jail : Karunanidhi

Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi said he did not meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi during his recent Delhi visit as he thought it won?t be right to do so when his daughter Kanimizhi is in jail.

?I had an opportunity to meet Sonia Gandhi. But I didn?t meet her because I thought it won?t be right to do so when my daughter is in jail,? Karunanidhi said here.

Kanimozhi was sent to jail by a Delhi special court on Friday last in the 2G case as a co-conspirator and for the role of her family owned Kalaignar TV, in which she is a stakeholder, in receiving the scam money.

She moved the Delhi High Court for her bail while on Monday her father and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief M Karunanidhi met her at Tihar Jail here in a family reunion at an unlikely place.

The 87-year-old former Tamil Nadu chief minister met his youngest daughter Kanimozhi at the Superintendent’s office in Tihar jail around 5.30 pm.

?We cried?my father was upset,? Kanimozhi said on meeting with Karunanidhi.

Kanimozhi?s mother Rajathi Ammal, her husband Aravindan and DMK Parlimentary Party leader T.R. Baalu accompanied the DMK chief.

On Tuesday, MK Stalin, Kanimozhi’s half-brother and a DMK leader, met her in court.

This is the first time Karunanidhi met Kanimozhi after her arrest in connection with the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

Karunanidhi termed his visit to the capital as ?strictly a personal one? and hence did not even meet Sonia Gandhi, whom he meets whenever he is in New Delhi, ever since DMK entered alliance with the Congress in 2004.

Besides Kanimozhi, Kalaignar TV Managing Director Sharad Kumar had also on Monday appealed in the Delhi High Court for their bail in connection to the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

Kanimozhi is a stake holder in the Kalaignar TV, which is allegedly one of the beneficiaries of the 2G scam money. She has been chargesheeted as the controlling mind behind the TV company by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Justice OP Saini of the special court earlier said bail was dismissed “due to the magnitude of the crime and the nature and enormity of the allegations” which forced him not to show any consideration to her despite she being a woman with a very dignified conduct in the court.

The court in its 144-page order arguing against a bail held that since most of the witnesses against Kanimozhi are the employees of Kalaignar TV there is a possibility of their being influenced.

The CBI has chargesheeted Kanimozhi as a co-conspirator in the scam and for allegedly accepting a Rs 214 crore bribe in the 2G spectrum allocation scandal that saw her party colleague and former Telecom Minister A Raja going to Tihar jail.

The DMK lost heavily the elections in Tamil Nadu this month.

Kanimozhi has been charged with section 7 and 11 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. .

Kanimozhi also has to face the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for money laundering allegations.

The ED has indicted Kanimozhi under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).