A pall of anxiety prevailed over Tamil Nadu House, this morning, before Kanimozhi left to court. An old issue of Deccan Herald headlined “CBI raids Kalignar TV office” lay at the temple-chariot like entrance of the building. Tamil Nadu government drivers spoke in hushed tones under a streetlight bearing a tattered DMK banner.
Tight-lipped DMK-cadre in trademark black-red bordered veshtis, led by Ministers of State S. Gandhiselvan, S. S. Palanimanickam and D. Napoleon, diverted the press to the main entrance as Kanimozhi exited from the back door. Scribes who got the wind of it rushed to the back, even as she shielded her son Adithya from camera flashes with her dupatta.
Her school-going son had come down the stairs to wish his mother luck, before she left to court. She immediately whizzed out with her husband G. Aravindan in a Toyota Corolla.
DMK supporters huddled at a tea stall in Patiala House Courts Complex, as the trial dragged on inside. Most of them were Ariyalur, a district bifurcated from jailed DMK MP A. Raja’s home district of Perambalur.
“Party seniors have told us not to talk to the press. You people have created all this trouble. We do not want to be misquoted,” said an elderly DMK town secretary.
Another party elder added that they had primarily come to Delhi to see “their son Raja.”
“We saw him in the jail van. He waved at us,” he added. “Many North Indians ask us if we gave voters a lot of money. I can assure you that I haven’t given anyone a paisa in my ward.”
At noon, North Chennai DMK MP T. K. S. Elangovan stepped out of the courtroom for tea. He wore the same calm smile that he sported at the counting centre after trouncing CPI stalwart D. Pandian in the previous parliamentary polls.
“This case is not a political issue for us,” said Elangovan coolly. “We are all here in solidarity and are ready to face whatever comes.” His words seemed to calm the jittery DMK faithful present.
Back at the Tamil Nadu House canteen, waiters discussed the bits of news on the case that they were getting from text messages. They too had been advised against indulging journalists. Any case related query was replied with an offer of more filter coffee.
A Tamil Nadu bureaucrat came in with his wife for lunch. After speaking to a junior official, before entering the canteen, she exclaimed loudly, “You know the media is here because Kanimozhi may be arrested.” “Shut up!” her husband muttered under his breath.
The case which was expected to wind up after lunch dragged on till sunset. When news that she had left court came in, scribes split up in two teams guarding the front and back entrances. True to instinct, Kanimozhi’s Corolla went straight to the back entrance. She stepped out, visibly shaken up, as party leaders pushed TV cameras aside to make way for her.
Later, a DMK MP came out of a huddle with Kanimozhi and called a few journalists aside. “Everyone says what they want without thinking about the party, “the MP said on condition of anonymity. “Just yesterday she (Kanimozhi) said that she doesn’t want any concession for being a woman; now her lawyer asks leniency in the name of motherhood. The blame of the scam has now been shoved on the party, to save her.”
On being asked whether the DMK would break their alliance with the Congress if Kanimozhi was arrested, the MP said that it was all up to the Congress now. “We knew we are in trouble when that drunkard (referring to actor-politician Vijayakanth) joined the ADMK alliance. But even if we lose the election or the Congress leaves us, the party can still face it.”
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