Duraimurugan joins issue with Jaya on LTTE

Chennai, Dec 19 (UNI) DMK senior leader and Public Works Minister Duraimurugan today joined issue with AIADMK General Secretary J Jayalalithaa over her broadside against Chief Minister M Karunanidhi ''for his open support to the banned LTTE in the state''.

Reacting to Ms Jayalalithaa's remarks that the Centre should not have invited Mr Karunanidhi for the Chief Ministers' conference on terrorism as he openly supported the LTTE, the Minister, dismissed as ''false and motivated'' her charge that the DMK government offered support to the LTTE.

On Ms Jayalalithaa's poser as to why the Centre was keeping quiet for the past eight years after the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence awarded to some of the accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, he said ''what was Ms Jayalalithaa doing when she was at the helm of affairs during 2001-06''.

He said the Chief Minister had offered condolences to the death of LTTE leaders Anton Balasingam and S P Tamilchelvan purely on humanitarian ground and Ms Jayalalithaa ''is far off from humanism''.

''How can she be humane when she celebrated her victory by bursting crackers, when in the nearby street, the body of a former Union Minister was lying'', Mr Duraimurugan asked.

''There is good governance in Tamil Nadu'', he said adding today also, police, in a swift move, arrested five naxalites, who had infiltrated into Theni district just few days ago.

The AIADMK leader was fuming as she was terribly frustrated, he said.

Mr Duraimurugan also flayed Ms Jayalalithaa for finding fault with the Chief Minister for a lower court granting bail to Vannia Arasu, a Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) leader, who was arrested on charges of supplying arms to the LTTE.

He asked why Ms Jayalalithaa, who criticised VCK leader Thol Thirumavalan for supporting LTTE, remained silent on her alliance party leader Vaiko's support to the organisation.

UNI