DMK chief rebukes warring siblings

CHENNAI: In a veiled message to the DMK’s warring siblings, Stalin and Alagiri, party president M Karunanidhi said that the party always honoured those who made sacrifices.He was speaking at the marriage function of the party’s senior advocate R Shanmugasundaram’s son here on Sunday.A few years ago, when a debate arose about whom a vacant Rajya Sabha seat should be given to, a section favoured R Shanmugasundaram, citing his loyalty and sacrifice as he had recovered from a murderous assault on him in 1995, another section favoured Jinnah for the seat. But,  Jinnah volunteered to give up the seat to Shanmugasundaram, saying that the latter deserved it for the sacrifices he made for the party. “A few years later, when another vacancy fell, I offered it to Jinnah saying that it was a reward for his earlier sacrifice,” Karunanidhi recalled, adding, “This has been the culture of the DMK. This should be the case in the present as well as in the future.  I am saying this to rebuke (with an intention to correct the errant).”His remarks assume significance in the wake of the continuing tussle between his sons MK Alagiri and MK Stalin.