File photo of DMK Chief M Karunanidhi.
DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi on Friday slammed media for running an "imaginary ghost haunting" campaign on the spectrum allocation scam which unseated the party from power in 2011 assembly elections despite its impressive performance.
"The relentless campaign run by media and the high decibel hype it built around the issue were borne out of sheer figment of imagination, resulting in the party losing the election despite its good track record of performance in office between 2006-2011", he said in a letter addressed to partymen.
"Were there no achievements during 2006-11? The 2G spectrum allocation scam is like a deer chasing a mirage. But the media unleashed that assumed monster among people and diverted them, masked our achievements and defeated DMK," he said, hitting out at the media, days after trial began in 2G money laundering case involving his family members.
Karunanidhi, whose wife Dayalu, daughter Kanimozhi and junior party colleague and former Telecom Minister A Raja are prime accused in the 2G case, charged a section of media with bias against his party and its ideals and said there had been concerted efforts to defeat DMK for long.
"Some media --both print and television, even 'challenged' democratic ethos, thrust their opinions on people," he alleged in a bid to galvanise his party for the 2016 polls.
Due to competition among themselves, media vied with each other in reporting developments, and in the process 'made a mountain out of molehill' in many issues, thus influencing people who could not differentiate between right and wrong, said Karunanidhi, whose party's reputation has been severely dented in the 2G case.
In an apparent reference to his arch rival and AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa, convicted in an illegal assets case, he alleged that the media was 'backing' her by saying she was enjoying sympathy wave even as he accused it of trying to pronounce verdict in the spectrum allocation case.
"They are desperate to deliver verdict in an yet to be completed case, by blowing it up (out of proportion)," he said adding the media was having different yardsticks for different people.
With the state scheduled to face Assembly polls by 2016, the DMK chief exhorted workers to launch a series of meetings starting January next and send the CDs to the party high command which would be assessed by him, DMK general secretary K Anbazhagan and its Treasurer MK Stalin.