Karuna issues veiled threat to UPA

Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at 9:10 am

Its always been an emotive issue in Tamil Nadu and with the Lok Sabha elections fast approaching political parties in the state are once again bickering over who is most concerned about the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

In Sri Lanka, ethnic cleaning has killed thousands over the decades. In India, two powerful politicans have been fighting over who cares more for those Tamils in the Lankan island. For DMK supremo M Karunanidhi the conflict in Sri Lanka has been a pet issue for years. But now, his arch rival AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa is stealing his thunder, singing a similar tune.

So, the DMK supremo wanted his voice heard. Addressing a rally here to protest the attacks on Sri
Lankan Tamils by the island nation’s army, he said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had spoken to him on the issue yesterday morning, after which National Security Advisor M K Narayanan summoned the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commissioner at New Delhi to convey the country’s protest over the attacks.

“If the attacks on Sri Lankan Tamils continue in the island nation despite the warning given by the Centre, we have to think whether this government would continue or not. If the Centre cooperates, we have a life. If they don’t, Tamils in Sri Lanka and in India will also perish,” he said.

Though the Chief Minister had spoken vaguely on the subject, leading the media to interpret that his party might consider withdrawal of support to the UPA government, sources close to him clarified that Karunanidhi had only spoken about his government and not the UPA government. Karunanidhi said the DMK general council would meet soon to decide the next course of action.

Karunanidhi’s comments on the govenment continuing or not has the the PM sitting up and taking notice. The PM has assured the DMK supremo of steps to curb the problem in Sri Lanka.

At a time when the AIADMK was hijacking the emotional Sri Lankan Tamil issue, it was vital for the chief minister to reiterate his stand. The DMK is under considerable pressure, some of which it is trying to shift onto the Centre, even issuing a veiled threat.

(By Dhanya Rajendran)

( This post is from an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by APakistanNews.Com.)

Karuna issues veiled threat to UPA

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