DMK emergency meet today; to discuss Kanimozhi's arrest, poll loss

Chennai: In the wake of the Delhi High Court denying bail to DMK MP and party chief M Karunanidhi's daughter, Kanimozhi, in the 2G spectrum case, an emergency meeting of the party's top brass will be held today. And M Karunanidhi is poised, according to some reports, to yank his six ministers from the UPA government. He has instructed members of his party's core committee to "participate without fail" in a meeting today - this could be the platform for him to announce his decision. (Read: Will DMK ministers quit UPA government?)

This will also be the first meeting of the party's high-level Action Committee after the DMK's drubbing in the Assembly polls in which it finished a poor third, with fledgling DMDK becoming the principal Opposition.

The meeting is scheduled to take place at the DMK headquarters at 4 pm.

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Mr Karunanidhi has 18 Lok Sabha MPs. If his ministers do indeed quit, the party is likely to provide outside support to the UPA.

The President of the DMK expressed his resentment over the arrest of his daughter, Kanimozhi. Earlier this week, he attributed her arrest publically to the "orders or complacency of the Centre." On May 20, Kanimozhi was denied bail by a Delhi court that's trying the 2G scam. The judge said the Kanimozhi's political clout could influence the investigation into what's reported to be India's largest-ever scam.

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Kanimozhi is a Rajya Sabha MP. She's been accused of accepting a Rs. 214-crore bribe in conspiracy with A Raja, who is also from the DMK and served as Telecom Minister till late last year. Mr Raja was arrested in February - like Kanimozhi, he is in Tihar Jail.