Chennai:
M Karunanidhi is not an Air India pilot! So if the 88-year-old DMK chief calls in sick, as was initially reported in a section of the media, you don't doubt that. What however baffles me is why and how some circles interpret his decision to give the UPA anniversary dinner a miss, as an "ally skipping" the event. The DMK has no grouse with the Centre at this juncture at least, to sulk like a child. And its MPs are camping in the capital, and in all probability the likes of T R Baalu will break bread later tonight at the UPA do.
I was at 'Kalaignar's' Gopalapuram home this morning. As his elder son and Union Minister M K Alagiri, (who actually looked slimmer today!) emerged from the residence, I pinned him down with a question on his rating of the UPA, that he is part of. Initially reluctant to award marks, the Madurai strongman gave in to my persistent posers with a "cent percent" figure. Perhaps the CBSE result fever has gripped Chennai in more ways than one. Or the 2G heat has probably died down a wee bit. Having inherited the wit of his father, Alagiri had a wisecrack in response to a simple query on whether he is attending the dinner: "I'm on a diet"! Political journalists are seldom kept on short rations in Tamil Nadu.
As Karunanidhi was wheeled into his special SUV, I asked him to give the UPA a score out of ten. "Is it an exam or what for me to give marks? Every govt will have its ups and downs. So you cannot rate it like that." Repartees that you can come up with in the comfort of an air-conditioned sound proof studio are not possible on the field with Black Cats and other security personnel unwilling to give you an extra second. Of course, a govt's performance is like an exam in the house of the people. The voters do the evaluation. And there is nothing frivolous about asking an ally for his self-assessment!
Coming back to the dinner diplomacy, those who view the DMK patriarch's absence at the buffet tonight must remember that he moves around in a wheelchair. At 88, he doesn't or cannot exert himself with outstation travel. The last time Mr Karunanidhi went to Delhi was to do his bit for his daughter Kanimozhi who was in the Tihar jail. And on that flight, he is reported to have thrown up a few times. Which is why, he even chose to receive his daughter dear at the Chennai airport instead of trooping to Delhi again to meet her at the prison gates.
And it is not as if Karunanidhi is a regular at such events. In January last year, he skipped a dinner hosted by the then Governor S S Barnala for the visiting Prime Minister. And what was the reason? A prior engagement! So as Manmohan Singh was sipping soup for starters at the Raj Bhavan without his biggest Southern ally, the DMK Chief was releasing a book by his poet friend Vairamuthu. Attendance at dinners is hardly a yardstick to determine rapport. Formalities don't always matter in politics. Especially in Tamil Nadu. What Mr Karunanidhi doesn't do, Baalu probably would.
Moreover, 2012 is not quite 2011. Kanimozhi is out of jail. So is even A Raja. The DMK is backing the Congress Presidential nominee. And the Tamil Nadu Congress has reciprocated by boycotting the Pudukottai by poll in deference to the DMK's decision. All is well, between the two parties. Don't be surprised if you find a warm message with a distinction awarded to the UPA in 'Kalaignar in Kaditham' (Karunanidhi's Letter) - the DMK supremo's daily column in the Murasoli paper tomorrow.
I'm curious about something else. Will A Raja, who reportedly got a pat from P Chidambaram in Parliament this morning (remember what a controversy the PM's pat on the former Telecom Minister's shoulder erupted into a few years ago!) turn up at the dinner? That will probably become a juicy picture or a box item.