Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi was admitted to a hospital in the wee hours today after he complained of back-ache, putting off the plan of his party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), to pull out of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
A few weeks ago, Karunanidhi had raised the issue of the central government’s inability to intervene in the Sri Lankan Army’s operations against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and threatened to withdraw from the UPA. On that occasion, a visit by Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee to Chennai had defused the crisis.
Karunanidhi has been advised to take complete rest for a week and all his engagements during this period have been postponed, according to an official press release.
This came even as the war in northern Sri Lanka against the LTTE inched inexorably towards a denouement.
Although the DMK’s stunning victory in the recent Thirumangalam byelection showed that the party had not lost ground despite the anti-incumbency factor, Karunanidhi was quoted as having said earlier this week that the party would lose the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections unless it did something for the Tamils of Sri Lanka.
The victory proved that while the largely rural populace — though a municipality, the constituency is dominated by small closed communities of villages — forgave the government for power cuts of between 10 and 14 hours, it rewarded the DMK for the Re 1 per kg rice scheme launched by its government.
At the same time, it is clear that this election could be a flash in the pan and unless the DMK renegotiates alliances, it could be in the danger of losing several of the 40 seats Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu-Puducherry.