Karunanidhi failed to press Centre on Tamils issue: Nedumaran

Kanniakumari, Nov 22 (UNI) Tamil National Movement president P Nedumaran today alleged that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi lacked the courage to press the Centre to save the Tamils in Lanka and say that it would extend support to it only if it resolved to save the Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Talking to newspersons here he charged that this was inspite of the fact that the Congress-led UPA coalition government at the Centre could not not survive even for a day without the support of Tamil Nadu government.

Mr Nedumaran, known for his overt support for seperate Tamil homeland in Lanka as well as the LTTE fighting for it, alleged that the Manmohan Singh government was bothering about Indian cargo vessels being attacked in Somalia. But it was turning a blind eye to the sufferings of the fishermen in midsea in neighbouring Sri Lanka without any protection.

He alleged that this showed the Centre was not interested in the welfare of our fishermen.

The leader suggested that the relief materials sent for the suffering Tamils in the war-torn Sri Lanka must be sent to them only through Red Cross and ''Tamils Rehabilitation Centre'' in Sri Lanka.

He recalled that when late MGR was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, he had sent Rs six crore relief to the Tamils there through the ''Tamils Rehabilitation Centre''. Even two shiploads of relief materials were also sent with the help of this organisation.

He also alleged that the arms which India had given to Lanka were being used only against the hapless Tamils there. The former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's bold initiative on neighbouring Bangladesh in 1971 saved the people of that nation.

But now Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seem to lack that boldness, he added.

UNI XR RJ PK KP1830