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Karunanidhi attacks Left parties

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M Karunanidhi today gave clear indication that his party would vote in support of the confidence motion in the Lok Sabha and expressed confidence that the Vajpayee government would survive the trial of strength.

"I strongly believe there is enough scope for the survival of the government and its continuance," he told a press conference in Madras.

The DMK has taken a decision on the confidence motion and party parliamentary group leader Murasoli Maran will announce it in Delhi tomorrow. Karunanidhi, however, declined to divulge the decision.

Karunanidhi criticised the Left parties for not consulting the DMK and Tamil Maanila Congress while taking decisions with regard to the present political crisis at the Centre.

By doing so, the Left parties have destroyed the prospects of the emergence of a third front. It was now too late for any consultations and a rapprochement with them, he said. He said it was unfortunate that the Left party leaders had not thought about the Third Front.

Asked about CPI-M General Secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet's reaction to his stand that AIADMK leader J Jayalalitha was "more dangerous than communalism," Karunanidhi said, "Though Mr Surjeet has spoken about me in a disrespectful manner, I will not reply in the same manner. I hold him in high esteem."

Surjeet had said that if such a statement was really made, something was wrong with the person concerned.

UNI

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