Sunday, May 10, 2009

Jayalalithaa's demand for Eelam 'strange': Karunanidhi

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Sunday attacked AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa for raking up the issue of a separate Eelam and described it as "strange".

"In 2007, when I penned an eulogy condoling the death of slain LTTE spokesperson S P Tamilselvan, she demanded dismissal of my government, saying the LTTE was a banned organisation in India and its chief Prabhakaran a proclaimed offender," he said.

In fact, AIADMK government had even declined to allow Chennai to be used for some tentative dialogue between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government, the DMK chief said at a joint election rally with Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

"But it is strange that she is now promising separate Eelam," Karunanidhi, who had himself raised the demand for separate homeland for Tamils, said.

"I do not want to reply to her charges. Will anybody bite a snake, if bitten by it," he said.

The ailing 85-year-old leader, who was discharged from hospital on Saturday, said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi had assured the support of Congress for bringing peace in Sri Lanka

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