Arjun visits Karunanidhi

By Our Special Correspondent

Chennai

May 28: The sudden southern trip of Union human resource development minister and senior Congress leader Arjun Singh to call on chief minister M. Karunanidhi on Wednesday threw up an array of questions as to the motive behind the meeting.

Mr Singh in his brief interaction with mediapersons after the meeting said it was no crisis call on the chief minister. The chief minister, it is well known, enjoys a special rapport with Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Insiders insist that Mr Singh had sought help from him to iron out his differences with the Congress chief.

Mr Singh found himself at odds after he reportedly said in an interview in a recently released book on him, Mohin Kahan Vishram (No rest for me), that the decision-making in the party had "fallen into a bit of disarray".

He received a snub from the party high-command that rejected his contention saying, "We do not agree with it. The Congress president has always been fair and transparent in holding consultations." But Mr Singh went a step ahead and added fuel to fire at the book release function in New Delhi by questioning the party's loyalty yardstick. He had said the "evaluation of loyalty in the party was now being done in a very narrow context". His remarks drew stinging counter-attacks from even his once close associates .