Sunday, September 4 2005 16:31 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: Dravida Munnetra Khazhagam (DMK) President M Karunanidhi today (Sept 4, 2005)came down heavily on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's non-participation in a function yesterday (Sept 3, 2005), which was attended by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, saying "It would have been surprising had she turned up."

"Ignoring senior leaders, behaving arrogantly, coming down heavily on any opposition leader, not caring for her ministers and Government officials and treating respect and culture as dirt has been her wont", he said.

On her remarks at the recently held National Integration Council meet, where she said that her government's focus was on agriculture, Karunanidhi alleged that over 50 farmers had died of starvation in the last four years. There were not enough stocks of food grains at good downs in the state, he said.

Though he had recently presented these facts, backed by statistics, 'there is no reply to them till now', he added.