UPA govt's handling of Tamils issue inept: alleges BJP

Tiruchirapalli, Nov 15 (UNI) Vice president of Tamil Nadu unit of BJP H Raja today strongly criticised the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre for not acting properly on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue.

Addressing a press conference here he said the UPA government should exert pressure on the Sri Lankan government, through the United Nations, to ceasefire.

He pointed out that in 2002, when the NDA government was in power, the then External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh went to Colombo and exerted pressure on the Lankan government and brought about a ceasefire.

But now the UPA Government has, so far, not taken any concrete steps on the issue, he added.

He came down heavily on DMK president and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi for often threatening that he would resign for the cause of the Sri Lankan Tamils, but actually not doing so. ''He will never resign. After enacting the drama of resignation of the DMK MPs, Mr Karunanidhi now is enacting a new drama,'' he claimed.

''If the DMK is really interested in the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, the MPs should tender their resignation to the Lok Sabha Speaker, instead of their party president, M Karunanidhi,'' Mr Raja added.

He also criticised the leaders of other political parties for protesting against the Indian Government's action of sending radars to Sri Lanka.

He charged that the law and order in Tamil Nadu was deteriorating, and added that the recent group clash among students in the Dr Ambedkar Government Law College in Chennai was a clear example of this.

Condemning the clash, as well as the police inaction, Mr Raja alleged that the leaders of the Vidudhalai Chiruthaikal Katchi (VCK) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) were behind the clash.

He demanded that the state government should take firm action against those, who were responsible for the clash.

Referring to the reported spectrum scandal, allegedly involving Union Minister for Telecom and Information Tecnology, A Raja of the DMK, the BJP leader recalled that the minister had categorically said that he had carried out the spectrum deal with the intervention and advice of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

''If that is so, both the minister and the Prime Minister should be punished as per the law,'' he added.

He said the UPA Government had failed on all fronts, especially in the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP), for which Rs 16,000 crore had been allotted.

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