President A P J Kalam has indicated his inability to attend the May 10 special session of the Tamil Nadu Assembly to mark the ‘golden jubilee’ celebration of DMK president and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi in the Assembly.The President would be going abroad and would not be available to attend the Assembly session. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee would join in the celebrations and address the Assembly on May 11. Felicitation committee headed by minister R Anbazhagan had been informed of the President’s inability to attend the session, Tamil Nadu Speaker R Avudaiappan told members today. The President’s ‘unavailability’ comes in the wake of an appeal by AIADMK leader Miss J Jayalalithaa that he should not participate in the celebrations as Karunanidhi, who made his political debut by winning a seat in 1957, “had actually served only 38 years in the Assembly”.“The preparations were being made using public money at a time when people were “reeling under skyrocketing prices,” she had said. The President’s inability to attend is being attributed to his desire to avoid a controversy at the end of his tenure.
