Author: Sam Daniel
Publication: NDTV.com
Date: January 5, 2011
URL: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/alagiri-quits-cabinet-wants-raja-sacked-from-dmk-posts-sources-77180?cp
It's once again open war within the DMK's
first family - four months before Tamil Nadu votes.
Party chief M Karunanidhi's son, MK Alagiri
has reportedly submitted his resignation from the Cabinet and as Organising
Secretary for the DMK to his father. Mr Alagiri is Minister for Chemicals
and Fertilizers.
Mr Alagiri is reportedly demanding that his
father sack A Raja, at the centre of the 2G Telecom scam, from his party position
as "Propaganda Secretary." Mr Alagiri has also said he wants to
concentrate on state politics, turf that had been reserved for his brother,
MK Stalin, by his father.
Mr Raja was forced to resign as Telecom Minister
in November after the government's auditor blamed him for costing the government
upto 1.76 lakh crores by deliberately mishandling the allocation of mobile
licenses in 2008.
Mr Alagiri's resignation from his DMK office
is being seen as a pressure static designed to land his supporters more seats
for the Tamil Nadu elections.
Sources say Mr Alagiri's resignation letter
was submitted last evening to his father, and that the Prime Minister's office
has yet to receive it.
He has been upset with his step-sister, Kanimozhi,
who is a Rajya Sabha MP. Transcripts of phone conversations with PR tycoon
Niira Radia reveal a Kanimozhi protégé and state minister Poongothai
making unflattering remarks about Mr Alagiri. Radia's phone was tapped in
2008 and 2009 as part of an income tax inquiry. Her conversations with industrialists,
politicians and bureaucrats have become a vital part of the investigation
into the 2G scam. Radia is accused of lobbying for Mr Raja to return as Telecom
Minister in 2009 after the UPA won the general elections. She reportedly then
pushed for Mr Raja to favour her clients who wanted mobile licenses.
Mr Alagiri's rivalry with his brother over
who would be their father's successor as DMK Chief is also common knowledge.
Mr Stalin is seen as his father's choice for taking over not just as DMK head
but as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Mr Alagiri was deputed to the union cabinet
by his father in the hope of creating some distance between his warring sons.
However, those close to Mr Alagiri says he has been desperate to return to
Tamil Nadu to play a heavyweight role in state politics. In his note to his
father, he has allegedly said that his discomfort with Hindi makes him an
uneasy fit at the Centre.
