The family of the DMK patriarch, who often likes to claim the mantle of rationalist leader E.V. Ramasamy Periyar, has recently been spotted seeking divine intervention at temples.
On Tuesday, Karunanidhi's elder daughter Selvi and a few other women of the family conducted special prayers at Sri Khalahasti temple in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district. Earlier, the team had gone to Tirupati and offered worship at the Sri Venkateswara temple.
At Sri Khalahasti, Selvi performed the Rahu-Ketu Sarpa Dhosha puja to propitiate the deity which is believed to disentangle the devotees from all troubles.Besides praying for the longevity of Karunanidhi, the purpose of the puja was to seek the blessings of the lord for her half-sister Kanimozhi and Stalin.
Separate prayers were conducted for each of them. Later, all of them received blessings from the temple priests.
The family members successfully resisted photographers from taking pictures at the temple. Selvi even covered her face with her saree.
The daughter of Dayalu Ammal, the patriarch's second wife, Selvi has been leading the family's newfound love for spirituality. Married in the Maran family and settled in Bangalore, she had earlier played the role of a pacifier when the two families were estranged.
The recent shows of togetherness might just also help the warring Karuna clan put up a façade of unity in times of adversity.
Interestingly, the clan's pilgrimage to Khalahasti and Tirupati comes in the wake of heightened speculation in the local media that Kanimozhi might possibly spill the beans on the scam to the CBI. Denied bail by the Supreme Court, she is cooling her heels in Tihar Jail. In an attempt to pacify her, the patriarch has visited her twice and Stalin met her this week.
Past revisits Alagiri
The past is all set to haunt Union chemicals and fertilisers minister M.K. Alagiri, with the CBI resurrecting the ghost of the Dinakaran attack case. In May 2007, Alagiri's supporters ransacked the office of Dinakaran daily, owned by the Marans, and set it afire.
Three employees were killed in the incident. The attack was a reaction to the newspaper publishing a survey on the possible successors to DMK patriarch Karunanidhi, which placed Alagiri at the bottom. The DMK was in power then.
Following the open war, Dayanidhi Maran was stripped of his cabinet berth. The Marans and the Karunanidhi family remained estranged for a year. Even the patch-up was said to have been purchased by the Marans.
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday allowed the CBI to go on appeal in the case, in which the accused were acquitted by a trial judge because the witnesses as well as the complainant turned hostile.
Passing orders on a CBI petition - filed during the fag end of the DMK regime - Justices S. Rajeswaran and G. Akbar Ali, granted the go-ahead to the agency.
All the accused in the case are Alagiri's loyalists, including the current Madurai mayor Thenmozhi Gopinathan and deputy mayor P.M. Mannan. Another case the southern satrap could face is one relating to the murder of a former DMK minister Tha Kiruttinanan.
