Union Minister and senior Congress leader Jayanthi Natarajan called on DMK president M Karunanidhi at his residence here on Friday, a day after the veteran leader hinted his party would initiate talks with other political parties on fielding a candidate for the Rajya Sabha (RS) elections.
The meeting assumed significance as it came amidst reports that the DMK was trying to send the party chief’s daughter Kanimozhi to RS for another term. Her current term in the upper house ends on July 24.
However, the Union Minister, told reporters after the meeting that she came to greet the veteran leader, who turned 90 on June 3.
The biennial elections for six RS seats are scheduled for June 27. Each candidate needs 34 first preference votes to win. DMK, which has only 23 MLAs, requires 11 more votes to send its candidate to the RS. Congress has five MLAs in the Assembly. The AIADMK, which has 151 MLAs and can comfortably win four seats, has fielded five candidates.