CHENNAI: DMK president M Karunanidhi’s flip flop on remaining in the UPA, left party cadre confused after their leader made a volte-face within an hour of threatening to break off from the alliance if its demand for a rollback on the petrol price hike was not accepted.
Speaking at the DMK protest against the petrol price hike on Wednesday at Chepauk, Karunanidhi’s statement drew a thunderous applause.
But an hour later, at the party headquarters, he told reporters that he had only said the party would remain in the alliance and continue to push for its demand.
A copy of the speech that was circulated by the DMK has the remark, “We gave those in power the responsibility of dealing with such situations and where they failed we raised a voice of protest. We stayed with them till then, and when things didn’t work out we have parted ways (applause) and we continued to pursue our ideologies. I appeal to the Centre and State governments not to give us room for such a step.”
Yet, an hour later he sang a different song, “We cannot say we will quit the coalition if the hike is not rolled back. That is because the next government that is formed could be regressive. It could be influenced by communal forces. We need to think about that as well.”
Finally, Karunanidhi expressed hope that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would take a favourable decision on the rollback on petrol price hike.