DMK’s move to invite BJP president Amit Shah to the memorial meeting for former party president M Karunanidhi in Chennai on August 30 has triggered speculations in the political circles of the two parties coming together ahead of the next year’s Lok Sabha polls.
The speculation gains significance from the fact that the DMK did not invite BJP for Karunanidhi’s 93 birthday celebrations in Chennai on June 3 last year citing ideological differences.
Political observers feel that the DMK by inviting BJP has decided to keep the option open for the ensuing Parliamentary polls post poll results .
“AIADMK says no invitation so far for condolence meeting for Karunanidhi on August 30. But the invitation was given to Amit Shah. So it is not that all parties get invited,” many RSS supporters and Sumanth Raman tweeted.
At the same time BJP president attendance has troubled insiders in BJP either and its non stop speaking MP Subramaniya swamy has tweeted “happy to note Amitshah is not attending the DMK meet”
Interestingly, the DMK’s ally Congress president Rahul Gandhi who is out of the country has deputed senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad even as the Amit Shah accepted the party’s invitation.
However senior DMK leader said that there was no politics in inviting the BJP for the memorial meeting titled “The Southern Sun”.
“When we initially planned to hold the State Autonomy conference on August 30 we did not invite the BJP as its government at the centre was infringing upon the state’s rights. After the death of Kalaignar (Karunanidhi), we decided to convert the meet into the memorial meeting and to invite all the national leaders from across the political spectrum. It is nothing but a mere political courtesy,” the leader said.
On Rahul Gandhi’s absence, the DMK leader said that he had expressed his inability to attend when invited for the state autonomy conference itself as he had prior appointments.
Apart from the BJP and Congress, Janata Dal (Secular) national president HD Deva Gowda, Nationalist Congress Party founder Sharad Pawar, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, Chief ministers – Nitish Kumar (Bihar), N Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh), Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi) and V Narayanasamy (Puducherry), IUML chairman KM Kader Mohideen and TMC leader Derek O’Brien.
