New Delhi:
Minutes before a court in Delhi decided his daughter, Kanimozhi, would stand trial in the telecom scam, DMK chief M Karunanidhi met with Sonia Gandhi, the President of the UPA, for 15 minutes at her residence. Mr Karunanidhi's party described the 15-minute-long meeting as "a courtesy call" - the southern leader wanted to enquire about Mrs Gandhi's health. She returned a few weeks ago to Delhi after an operation in the United States.
But much will be read into the timing of their appointment. From Mrs Gandhi's home, Mr Karunanidhi drove to the court handling the telecom scam, where he dropped off Kanimozhi's mother. At 6 pm, he is expected to meet the Prime Minister.
Along with 13 other individuals and three companies, Kanimozhi was told the court has accepted all the charges levelled by the CBI - they include criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant which comes with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Sources say that Mr Karunanidhi, who flew into Delhi from Chennai yesterday, met with Law Minister Salman Khursheed at a five-star hotel last night. The DMK chief is expected to meet his daughter at 4 pm today, most likely at Tihar Jail, where she has been staying since her arrest in May. Mr Karunanidhi has visited her here earlier, and is known to have broken down while talking to his child.
Kanimozhi, a Rajya Sabha MP, recently applied a third time for bail. Considerable controversy was generated after the media reported that the CBI had indicated that this time around, it would not oppose her bail. Kanimozhi's lawyers say because she is a woman and has to look after her young son, she should be allowed to return home.
Her arrest added a new stress-test case to her father's alliance with the Congress, which delivered disastrous results in the Tamil Nadu elections in May. Mr Karunanidhi was voted out as Chief Minister with the DMK embarrassed by one of its worst electoral scoreboards. Both Mr Karunanidhi and the Congress say a divorce is not on the cards. For the UPA coalition at the Centre, the DMK's 18 Lok Sabha MPs are prize assets.
The 2G scam has torn through the DMK with furious force. A Raja, the charismatic Dalit leader of the party is in jail for allegedly masterminding the swindle. Kanimozhi has been accused of helping him accept a kickback from a company he obliged with a mobile network license. And Dayanidhi Maran, who is Mr Karunanidhi's grandnephew, is being investigated for misusing his office as Telecom Minister before Mr Raja stepped in. Mr Maran had to resign as Union Minister after the CBI said it has evidence that he deliberately delayed licenses for a company named Aircel till the owner agreed to sell the telecom to an entrepreneur named T Ananda Krishnan close to Mr Maran's family. The CBI says Mr Ananda Krishnan of the Maxis Group repaid Mr Maran by depositing 600 crores in a company owned by his brother. And that Mr Maran ensured the pending licenses for Aircel were expedited once it was bought by Maxis.
At the DMK chief's hotel in Delhi this morning, Mr Maran was reportedly seen at Mr Karunanidhi's side, suggesting that reports of an estrangement between the family members may not be correct. Earlier this month, Mr Karunanidhi said, "I treat my daughter Kanimozhi and the Maran brothers equally."