After jail visit, Cong comforts Karuna

As an upset M Karunanidhi visited his daughter Kanimozhi at Tihar jail on Monday, the Congress sought to comfort the hurting father. Home minister P Chidambaram called on the DMK patriarch after he got back from Tihar, the first senior Congress leader to meet the 87-year-old.

As an upset M Karunanidhi visited his daughter Kanimozhi at Tihar jail here on Monday, the Congress sought to comfort the hurting father. Home minister P Chidambaram called on the DMK patriarch after he got back from Tihar, the first senior Congress leader to meet the 87-year-old.

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The DMK has been angry with the Congress since Kanimozhi’s arrest on Friday in the 2G spectrum scam case. Karunanidhi’s visit to the Capital was vastly different from his earlier trips, which were packed with appointments with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other leaders.

On Sunday, when the PM celebrated the second anniversary of UPA-2 with a dinner at his house, the DMK sent a single representative — TR Baalu. Congress efforts to make up with its second largest ally started at the party itself as it seated Baalu next to Gandhi, during the release of the government's report card by Singh and later at the dinner table. Baalu was seen exchanging notes with the Congress chief.

On Monday, after Chidambaram's arrival at the hotel where Karunanidhi was staying in the Capital, the DMK leaders seemed to have perked up. The father-daughter reunion at Tihar was an emotional one, with the former Tamil Nadu chief minister cancelling his plan to fly out to Chennai and deciding to stay overnight in Delhi.

Family members said it was because he was "emotionally disturbed" to see his "favourite child" in jail. At the jail, Karunanidhi also met former telecom minister A Raja and Kalaignar TV managing director Sharad Kumar.