DMK, AIADMK continue to trade barbs on Karuna burial space row

The row over allocation of burial space for late DMK chief M Karunanidhi continued with the opposition party today accusing the government of denying land on the Marina beachfront due to 'vendetta', a charge dismissed as 'baseless' by the ruling AIADMK.

DMK working president MK Stalin said in a letter to partymen that the request for burial space was made in line with Karunanidhi's desire to be be laid to rest next to his mentor and party founder C N Annadurai.

"We made a due request for land at Marina. We insisted in person (with chief minister K Palaniswami) also. But the treacherous AIADMK government denied space due to vendetta and the conspiracy of those controlling them," Stalin said in the letter.

He said the party took the matter to court securing a favourable verdict, following which the 94-year-old leader was laid to rest yesterday.

Stalin described the verdict as "final gift" to Karunanidhi.

Taking strong exception to Stalin's statement, AIADMK leader D Jayakumar listed the government's steps to ensure "a respectable" farewell, even as he blamed "legal tangles" for the government turning down DMK's plea.

Crediting AIADMK founder late M G Ramachandran for Karunanidhi's ascension to the chief minister's post after the death of incumbent C N Annadurai in 1969, Jayakumar took exception to the "baseless charges."
Referring to the batch of cases that were filed against construction of memorials on Marina, he said those were filed only by people who wanted to "remove the Jayalalithaa memorial there."
Citing the DMK's "opposition" to the construction of a Jayalalithaa memorial on the Marina as well as to that of installing her portrait in the state Assembly, he asked if they "have conscience."