CHIEF MINISTER'S DAUGHTER TO UPPER HOUSE; THE DMK'S FRESH

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENNAI 000399 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV IN SUBJECT: CHIEF MINISTER'S DAUGHTER TO UPPER HOUSE; THE DMK'S FRESH FACE IN DELHI REF: Chennai 00340 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi's 39 year-old daughter Kanimozhi is one of the six candidates set to be elected without contest to India's upper house of Parliament (the Rajya Sabha). Although a political novice, Kanimozhi will attract much attention as she is likely to emerge as the DMK's main emissary in New Delhi, possibly filling the void left by the exit of the former IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) Elections to the six vacant Rajya Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu, scheduled for June 15, are set to proceed without contest. The major parties have divvied up the seats between them based on their strength in the state assembly, thus setting aside the need for polling. Two candidates each from the DMK and the AIADMK and one each from the Congress and the CPI are set to be elected sometime after June 8. -------------- KANIMOZHI: DMK DYNASTY'S NEW STAR -------------- ¶3. (SBU) The highlight of the Rajya Sabha election is the nomination of DMK Chief Minister Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi. The nomination drew much media attention as it took place immediately after Karunanidhi pulled his grand-nephew, IT and Telecommunications Minister Dayanidhi Maran from the Union Cabinet (reftel). Meeting recently with Consulate officers, Kanimozhi justified her father's decision saying that the party had been "waiting for an opportunity" to bring down Maran, which the Maran family provided through the controversial opinion poll in its newspaper. A political insider amplified Kanimozhi's comment, noting that DMK officials felt that Maran was becoming too quick to try to bypass DMK authorities by appealing to the Congress leadership in Delhi, including to Sonia Gandhi. They also said there was bitterness between the Karunanidhi family and the Marans over the relatively modest sums of money the Karunanidhi family received for selling their shares in the Maran family's Sun television network. -------------- CONGRESS' PLIGHT EXPOSED -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Tamil Nadu's faction-ridden Congress party took several weeks to decide to re-nominate their retiring Rajya Sabha member Gnanadesikan. The decision upset the party's state President and his supporters, but after much complaining they stopped short of open revolt. Karthi Chidambaram, son of Union Finance Minister and an aspirant to the Rajya Sabha seat, was frank in his assessment of Tamil Nadu's Congress party. He told post that in Tamil Nadu, "the Congress is not a political party but only a vote bank." The party has no hopes to grow beyond the eight to twelve percent of votes it commands now as it lacks credible state leadership, he added, saying every minor decision has to come from New Delhi. NOTE: Despite Chidambaram's pessimism about Congress's role in Tamil Nadu, the party remains significant as a coalition partner that can turn the decision to either the DMK or the AIADMK in an election. END NOTE. -------------- RELUCTANTLY INTO THE BREACH -------------- ¶5. (SBU) COMMENT: After long avoiding the Karunanidhi family business (politics),Kanimozhi said that she finally "decided to take the plunge." Kanimozhi comes across as courteous, soft-spoken, deferential, and intelligent. Despite her leftist inclinations (see biographic information that follows),we do not expect her to be confrontational in opposing U.S. policies. Although she is reluctant to considerherself as the DMK's new emissary in Delhi, Kaniozhi will be a critical player from the start and wll be expected to assume that role sooner or latr. Kanimozhi is the obvious choice for that job now that Maran has the left the scene: she speaks excellent English and, most importantly, she is family. Biographic information follows. -------------- BIOGRAPHY OF KANIMOZHI -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Having inherited her father Karunanidhi's literary flair, Kanimozhi (DOB: 1/5/1968) has earned a name for herself as a Tamil poet with a deep interest in folk arts, freedom of expression and women's empowerment. With a Masters in Business Economics from Ethiraj (Women's) College, Chennai, Kanimozhi started her career as a journalist at The Hindu in 1992, where she worked in the the newspaper's art section, the Friday Review, until 1997. She later CHENNAI 00000399 002 OF 002 worked as the Features Editor of Murasu, a Tamil publication from Singapore and was in charge of Kungumam, a Tamil weekly owned by the Maran family. On behalf of her mother, Kanimozhi now runs the "Tamil Kani," a publishing company. She is also working on a documentary film on Karunanidhi. She speaks excellent English. ¶7. (SBU) Although Kanimozhi had no direct involvement in politics until recent days, she was active in literary and social circles. She boldly launched a forum known as Karuthu along with Karti Chidambaram, son of Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, to champion the cause of freedom of expression when popular film star Khushboo was attacked by Tamil politicians for expressing her views on sex. In February 2007, she organized a folk arts festival "Chennai Sangamam," which became controversial because her father's government used public funds to support the festival and also due to its association with organizations known to be sympathetic to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Kanimozhi is widely believed to be sympathetic to the cause of a separate Tamil Eelam (homeland) in Sri Lanka, although she has refrained from expressing any public support to the LTTE and limits her statements to expressions of support to the suffering Tamils of Sri Lanka. In November 2006, she and her mother Rajathi Ammal prominently took part in a one-day fast in support of Sri Lankan Tamils. As an activist poet, Kanimozhi fights caste, gender prejudice, and discrimination. She has also taken part in events jointly with local Islamic groups who vigorously oppose U.S. policies in Iraq. ¶8. (SBU) Kanimozhi's mother Rajathi Ammal is an "unofficial wife" of the Chief Minister. Karunanidhi's "official wife" Dayalu Ammal is the mother of Minister M.K. Stalin (widely projected as Karunanidhi's successor as Chief Minister) and M.K. Azhagiri, a DMK strongman in southern Tamil Nadu. Within the extended family, Kanimozhi comes across as one who maintains courtesies with her half brothers and other relatives. ¶9. (SBU) The mandatory official declaration of wealth by Kanimozhi in connection with her nomination to the Rajya Sabha disclosed her assets worth over $2 million in bank deposits, gold, diamonds, and shares in companies, most of these presumably gifted by Karunanidhi. She owns a commercial building in downtown Chennai. After a divorce, Kanimozhi married a Singaporean Tamil, Aravindan, in 1997. They have a son Adityan (significantly meaning the sun, the DMK's symbol). Kanimozhi now lives with her mother in Chennai and prefers to use her maiden name, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi. HOPPER