Karunanidhi leaves the Delhi hotel to meet Kanimozhi in Tihar jail on Monday. Picture by Prem Singh

New Delhi, May 23: He is angry, hurt and in no mood for a chat. M. Karunanidhi flew into Delhi today only to meet daughter Kanimozhi, party leader A. Raja and the chief of family-owned Kalaignar TV, Sharad Kumar, in Tihar jail.

The Kalaignar (scholar of arts), as the 87-year-old, wheelchair-bound leader is known, headed straight to Hotel Taj Mansingh from the airport. He got into an ambassador on the tarmac and sped off, taking the media by surprise. All his party MPs dashed off behind him.

The media had their chance when Karunanidhi’s car stopped at the portico of the five-star hotel. The leader, seated beside the driver, was carried out by his staff to his mechanised wheelchair, but not before the camera corps had broken through the police cordon and smothered him with flashes.

Junior minister S. Jagathrakshakan rushed forward with NSG Black Cats, shoving the photographers aside, and rescued his leader. Watching the commotion, MP Dayanidhi Maran broke into a guffaw but stopped abruptly when he realised no one else was laughing.

Dayanidhi refused to answer questions about the WikiLeaks excerpts, published in a newspaper today, that purportedly showed him criticising his party for corruption and giving freebies.

Karunanidhi remained closeted inside the Taj with party faithful before leaving for Tihar in the evening. Party leaders who met him described him as shocked.

“He kept asking how we would feel if our daughters were taken to prison,” said former Tamil Nadu minister Sarguna Pandian.

Kanimozhi, though, encouraged supporters in the court to continue party work fearlessly despite losing power. “We are all so disturbed but she kept asking us to be bold,” said former MLA Shankari Narayanan.

At the jail, Karunanidhi met Kanimozhi privately for 20 minutes along with her mother Rajathi Ammal, husband G. Aravindan and 11-year-old son Aditya. He then met Sharad and Raja for 15 minutes.

“We allowed the meetings after visiting hours because he is wheel-chair ridden,” said DG prisons Neeraj Kumar.

A head constable with the Tamil Nadu police team posted at the jail said Kanimozhi and Raja were very courteous. “Raja’s lunch comes from the Tamil Nadu Bhavan canteen (he has a stomach ulcer). Akka (elder sister) Kanimozhi had the jail dal-roti for one day but now gets one meal from her family.”

A constable said: “Seeing such big people from our state cramped in such small rooms, with open bathrooms, makes us feel sad. She’s very friendly with women constables. Raja always asks us if we have had our meal on time.”

Home minister P. Chidambaram met Karunanidhi later in the day as the Congress does not want the DMK first family to feel isolated in Delhi. A party leader said Chidambaram was sent because he comes from Tamil Nadu and knows the family well.

Karunanidhi had always met Sonia Gandhi during his previous visits to the capital but this time he apparently has no political agenda. Congress leaders said they did not know of any scheduled meeting but added that Sonia would certainly meet Karunanidhi if he put in a request.

The DMK’s 19 MPs are crucial to the UPA and the Congress does not want to push the ally into a corner. Had no senior leader met Karunanidhi in his hour of personal crisis, the ties between the allies could have come under strain.