Karunanidhi denies threatening to pull out of UPA government

Chennai, May 30: Within hours of threatening to pull out of the Central government if it failed to roll back the petrol price hike, DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Wednesday denied having made any such threat.

Blaming the media for misquoting him with a view to creating mischief, Karunanidhi told mediapersons that what he meant was that the DMK had not hesitated to pull out of the ministry in the past when the Union government failed to address public issues. He said, "What I said is that we have walked out in the past. I did not say we will walk out now from the Central government. It is media mischief."

With the Presidential election round the corner, he said the DMK would not do anything that would rock the UPA government. "Rather, we will remain in the alliance with all the bitterness." He said the Prime Minister had assured the DMK that he would look into the petrol price hikeissue.

Asked whether his party would quit if there was no roll back, Karunanidhi said, "I can't say at present as to what we will do if the hike is not rolled back. If we pull out, then there will be a crisis at the Centre and communal forces will seize the opportunity. We don't want to create such a situation."

Earlier in the day, addressing a DMK gathering organised to protest the petrol price hike, M Karunanidhi had warned the Centre that the DMK may be forced to pull out from the government if "anti-people policies" continued. Leading the protest in Chennai, Karunanidhi said: "We have been in coalition in the past with the BJP and VP Singh ( Janata Dal). Though we are a part of the central government, DMK has not hesitated to stop anti-people measures. It's in that spirit we are holding this agitation. We will sail with the Center as long as possible. We will request first, then will raise our objections strongly, if it is not responded to then we will leave to uphold our pro-people principles and policies. The Centre should not give room to drive us to that extent."

This is for the first time after a year since DMK tasted defeat in the assembly elections last year, that Karunanidhi participated in a protest. He had strongly condemned the Centre's stand on theMullaperiyar dam issue a few months ago.

Addressing the protest meeting, Karunanidhi also said the state government should protect the people from the burden of central taxes by its own strength. He observed that both the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government had raised prices of essential commodities. "Which government is going to rollback the price hike first? Who is going to receive people's appreciation? he asked. "Here is a competition, both governments should come forward to help the people," he commented in a sarcastic vein.

A host of DMK leaders including K Anbazhagan, MK Stalin and former ministers participated in the state-wide protests against the Centre and state government.