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Declare Lankan prez a war criminal: Jayalalithaa

Source:PTI
May 13, 2011
Set to form the next government in Tamil Nadu, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief J Jayalalithaa on Friday said the Centre should declare Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse a "war criminal" for the "genocide" of Tamils in the island nation.

India should come out with economic sanctions against Sri Lanka to compel the government to take steps to mitigate the sufferings of Sri Lankan Tamils and provide them "an honourable and decent life," she told Jaya TV.

She said the state government's role on the Sri Lankan Tamils' issue was limited and it was for the Centre to do something for the betterment of the Tamils.

Jayalalithaa, whose party-led front scored a spectacular victory in the assembly polls, said her first priority would be to restore the state to its prime position in the country.

She said the top agenda for her government would be to restore "law and order" which had "totally deteriorated".

Complete Coverage: Assembly Elections 2011

Jayalalithaa, set to become chief minister for a third term, said her aim was to implement all her poll promises, including nationalisation of multi-system cable TV operators within 18 months of assuming office.

Jayalalithaa replied in the affirmative when asked whether she expected the landslide victory.

She said she could gauge the mood of the people and that was why she had been maintaining that her party would get a landslide victory and ignored predictions by poll surveys.

"The people were waiting for an appropriate moment to vent their anger. They had done it now," she said.

Jayalalithaa thanked the people for voting her party to power and the Election commission for conducting free and transparent polls in the state.

She said the state had been pushed into a debt trap with a borrowing of Rs 1 lakh crore. "The state's treasury is empty and I have to start from scratch. Restructuring a house is an easier job but building a house is a tough task. We are entrusted with such a tough task," she said.

Jayalalithaa said the people were "totally disgusted" with the DMK government and were waiting for the election day to show their "anger and resentment".

"over the last three years, wherever I went I could read the feelings of the people, I could sense that the people were waiting for a chance to throw out the DMK government and bring in the AIADMK government," she said.

Stating that her party's priority was to rebuild the state, she said, over the past five years, Tamil Nadu has been totally ruined. "It's economy has been ruined", she said.

Asserting that she would bring back Tamil Nadu, which was once a leader in many areas, as the "foremost" state in the country, Jayalalithaa said the state at a time was written off by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and even by the Planning Commission.

"Even, many people pitied me for having taken over as chief minister in 2001, but I took it as a challenge. Today, that challenge has been magnified and multiplied ten thousand times. Once again, we will bring it back as the foremost state in the country," she said.

On her message to her alliance parties, she thanked them saying,  "I thank all my allies for their cooperation and for the hard work they have put in."

Asked whether the alliance with the Left parties would continue at the national level, she said, "We hope so."

Source: PTI
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