November 18, 2007

Congress takes on Karunanidhi over ode to Thamilselvan

(IANS) The Congress Saturday implicitly criticised Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi over his ode to a slain Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger leader, saying it was bound to hurt the sentiments of party members.

In a clear reference to a poem Karunanidhi wrote in memory of S.P. Thamilchelvan, the Congress said that the "sentiments of all Congress men and women are bound to get hurt if the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) is eulogised in any manner."

Thamilchelvan, the LTTE political wing leader, was killed in a bombing raid by the Sri Lanka Air Force in the island's north Nov 2.

A resolution passed at the All India Congress Committee session here said the LTTE, categorised internationally as a terrorist outfit, and deliberately assassinated our beloved leader (and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi) in a brutal manner.

The reference was to the killing of Gandhi by a suicide bomber at an election rally near Chennai in May 1991.

The resolution noted with concern that peace and internal constitutional settlement acceptable to all communities within the framework of a united Sri Lanka has still not been achieved. The (Indian) government's efforts toward this end should continue.

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