TN Mayors skip Asian Mayors Conference inaugurated by Rajapakse

Chennai, Nov 26 (UNI) All the six mayors of Tamil Nadu have stVayed away from attending the Asian Mayors Conference inaugurated by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Dehradun today.

The Mayors have cited ''prior commitments'' as the reason for skipping the prestigious meet, while denying that their decision was linked to Mr Rajapakse's presence at the meet.

However, sources said they had decided to skip the coonference to protest against the killing of innocent Tamils in the island nation.

While the Mayors of Chennai, Madurai, Tirunelveli and Salem belonged to the ruling DMK, those heading Coimbatore and Tiruchirapalli Corporations belonged to the Congress.

It may be recalled that during the course of a press conference Chief Minister gave a cautious reply stating that it was upto the Mayors to decide on attending the meet.

The PMK, a key constituent of the DMK-led DPA, had appealed to the Mayors to boycott the meet as it would be inaugurated by Mr Rajapakse.

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