Nobody should politicise Rajiv's killing: Cong

The Congress on Tuesday said nobody should politicise the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in comments that came after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's remarks that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was indirectly behind it.

Party spokesperson Manish Tewari said that Congress was "extremely sensitive" about the issue of Gandhi's assassination.

"There should be no attempts to politicise such a dastardly incident, which has reverberated not only across the country but across the world," Tewari said.

"People should refrain from trying to politicise a tragedy of the proportions, which are undefinable," he told mediapersons in New Delhi. His comments came after Jayalalithaa told a press conference in Chennai that her party "always said DMK was behind the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in an indirect way."

She said this when asked about the remarks of Pathmanathan, leader of the now decimated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam that DMK's ideology of anti-Brahminism could have influenced LTTE to kill Gandhi.

"That has been our basic charge since a long time. We have always said DMK was behind the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in an indirect way," the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said.

A senior Congress leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity, however, said that this was nothing but an attempt to drive a wedge between Congress and DMK and reorder the equations.

Jayalalithaa's party has been warming up to Congress even before the Assembly elections and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief had offered to support the United Progressive Alliance government if the DMK withdrew support in wake of action against its leaders in 2G scam.

After the election results, Congress President Sonia Gandhi had congratulated Jayalalithaa leading to intense media speculation about the two parties coming together again.