Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam patriarch M Karunanidhi's 39-year-old poet-daughter Kanimozhi was on Saturday night named as one of the party's nominees for the June 15 Rajya Sabha polls from the state.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of top DMK leaders at the party headquarters Anna Arivalayam in Chennai.
Tiruchi N Siva, a former Lok Sabha member from Pudukkottai, was the other nominee, Karunanidhi told reporters after the meeting.
Asked whether Kanimozhi would be recommended for inclusion in the Union Cabinet, he said, "Already, there are 13 members in the Cabinet from Tamil Nadu. I don't think there is space for one more."
Asked what was the reason for his daughter's entry into active politics, he quipped, "Politics is the reason."
It has been a steady rise for Kanimozhi, from a homemaker to a poet, to an organiser of a grand cultural fete Chennai Sangamam and to a Rajya Sabha member.
She will be the second member from the Karunanidhi's family to enter the Rajya Sabha after the DMK chief's nephew the late Murasoli Maran.
Kanimozhi had a short stint as a journalist in The Hindu.
Tiruchi Siva is the secretary of the party's student wing.
Asked whether Kanimozhi had agreed to contest, Karunanidhi said, "I hope she will agree."
On whether there was any possibility of rapprochement between him and his grand nephew and former Union minister Dayanidhi Maran, he said, "I do not want to say anything on this."
Asked to what extent the incidents that preceded Dayanidhi Maran's resignation had hurt him, he quipped: "To the extent that the issue is being discussed openly in a press meet."
He said one of the six Rajya Sabha seats would be given to the Congress and another to the Communist Party of India. The rest two had been left to the opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, he said.
He said he wanted to avoid a contest, which would "sensationalise" the elections.
He said the June 26 byelection to the Madurai west Assembly seat would be contested by the Congress, as the party had contested the seat during the Assembly polls.
