Click and greet Karuna on 94th birthday

Cadre who are typically used to wishing the nonagenarian on his birthday would now have to just contend with furnishing his/her mobile number and email address while leaving their greeting messages. “I had sent him a birthday message and was expecting a response but have received none so far,” said a cadre who used the website to wish the leader. Earlier, DMK cadre’s hopes came crashing down as the party officially declared that Karunanidhi would not engage cadre owing to health reasons. The high command, which asked cadre to cooperate, even did not mind saying, “The best birthday gift you (cadre) could give him would be avoiding an audience with him.” 

The statement issued by DMK headquarters Anna Arivalayam attributed the ‘marginal improvement’ in Karunanidhi’s health to ‘care and treatment’ given by the doctors and said the doctors have ‘strictly advised’ him to rest for some more time. The gag order to cadre has ended speculation about Karunanidhi hosting visitors on June 3, mainly the grand rally during which party Working President MK Stalin has planned to parade non-NDA leaders from across the country against a bullish BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

Should Karunanidhi give the non-NDA leaders’ rally a miss, which looks like an inevitability, it would go down in history as a rare national-level political conclave Karunanidhi would not be a part of.