Shah to skip Karuna memorial meet; Gadkari,Rao to represent BJP

The BJP said today Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and its national secretary Muralidhar Rao would represent the party at a memorial meeting for DMK supremo M Karunanidhi, setting at rest speculation over its president Amit Shah's participation at the August 30 event.

BJP state unit president Tamilisai Soundararajan said in a statement that Gadkari, Minister for Shipping and a former national president of the party, and Rao would attend the meeting, expected to see participation of a galaxy of political leaders from across the country.

Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, Ghulam Nabi Azad of Congress, chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, N Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar respectively, their Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal and CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury are among those likely to attend.

A section of the media had reported that Shah had accepted the DMK invite, setting off speculations of political realignments ahead of next year's Lok Sabha polls.

Of late, the DMK has been highly critical of the BJP on various issues, including Cauvery and NEET.

It had even protested the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April to Tamil Nadu, in the backdrop of the Cauvery issue.

Black flags were hoisted atop the residences of Karunanidhi, Stalin, Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi and other leaders in protest against Modi's visit and for not forming the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) then.