Karunanidhi is directly supporting the LTTE: Jaya

Accusing Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi of directly supporting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Jayalalithaa on Tuesday asked the Centre to take stern action against him for having 'facilitated the release' of an LTTE supporter, arrested on the charge of supplying boats to the banned outfit, on bail.

In a statement issued to coincide with Karunanidhi's visit to New Delhi to take part in the Chief Ministers' Conference on Internal Security on December 20, she said following a tip-off from central agencies, one Vanniyarasu, belonging to ruling DMK's ally Viduthalai Chiruthaigal, was arrested by police.

Within few hours the news appeared in the dailies, VC president Thol Tirumavalavan called on Karunanidhi. On the same day, Vanniyarasu was released on bail, she said.

"Though, it may appear that they are two different incidents, those who are well-informed can realise the truth. By releasing Vanniyarasu on bail, Karunanidhi is directly supporting the LTTE," she charged.

Jayalalithaa further said, "It is my duty to remind the central and state governments, particularly the prime minister and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, that the LTTE was banned for assassinating former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on the Tamil soil."

"Even eight years after the Supreme Court confirmed the death penalty for the assassins of Rajiv, the relevant files are still sleeping in the name of mercy petitions. Why has the Congress-controlled Home Ministry not brought this to light? Why is this silence? Is Sonia Gandhi not keen on implementing the death sentence of those who gruesomely killed Rajiv? Isn't the Centre aware that the open support to the banned LTTE by some political leaders, including the chief minister who had taken oath under the Constitution, is against the Indian sovereignty," she asked.