M A I N   N E W S

NDA team to leave for TN today
PM wants Governor’s report by 9 a.m.
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 30
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) tonight condemned the arrest of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and asked Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to take steps to restore constitutional order, rule of law and norms of federal polity in the state. The Union Cabinet will meet tomorrow to discuss “all options” in Tamil Nadu.

The emergency meeting of the NDA convened at the Prime Minister’s residence also adopted a unanimous resolution which described as “worrisome” the silence on the matter by Tamil Nadu Governor Fathima Beevi, who is the upholder of the Constitution.

The resolution while urging the Prime Minister to take steps to restore Constitutional order, appealed to all political parties to unequivocally denounce the action of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha and unite for the immediate release of Mr Karunanidhi, Union Ministers M. Maran and T.R. Balu Mr Karunanidhi’s son Stalin, other political functionaries and the former Chief Secretary of the state.

Briefing newspersons after the meeting, NDA convener George Fernandes said he would lead a three-member NDA delegation to Tamil Nadu tomorrow to meet the arrested Union Ministers and others. The delegation would comprise BJP leader V.K. Malhotra and Union Minister and Akali Dal leader S.S. Dhindsa.

It would meet DMK chief Karunanidhi and other political leaders who had been imprisoned, he said, adding that the delegation would also call on Governor Fathima Beevi.

Besides, the NDA delegation, a team of officials of the Union Home Ministry led by a Special Secretary was leaving for Tamil Nadu to make an on-the-spot assessment of the entire episode and also the manner in which the state government defied the Centre’s directions.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has sought from the Tamil Nadu Governor a report on the arrest of the DMK chief and related developments by 9 am tomorrow.

Mr Vajpayee directed Union Home Secretary Kamal Pande to request the Governor to submit the report after his directive to state Chief Secretary P. Shankar earlier in the day, seeking a detailed account of the developments, went unanswered.

Mr Dhindsa told The Tribune that all NDA members expressed serious concern over the manner in which the DMK leader and Union Ministers were humiliated and the Governor’s silence on the issue.

“The Governor is the Centre’s representative in the state and she should have sent a report on the prevailing situation by now,” he said.

The meeting, chaired by Mr Vajpayee, said the reports of the arrests, intimidation of journalists and storming of SUN TV station to stop the transmission of the arrest story were “equally condemnable”.

The nation must take due notice of this assault on the freedom of the Press, the resolution said.

“We the constituent parties of the NDA strongly condemn the arrest of Mr Karunanidhi who brings to public life decades of service to the state and the nation.

The humiliating manner in which such a senior public figure of national standing was arrested on contrived charges demonstrates that this is entirely an act of vengeance,” it said.

“Such personal vendetta has no place in a democracy,” the resolution said, adding that “another greatly disturbing aspect about which we are equally shocked is the illegal arrest and manhandling of Mr Balu by the state police.”

Criticising the manner in which Mr Karunanidhi was arrested Sports Minister Uma Bharti termed it “as the darkest incident in the history of Indian democracy.”