Karunanidhi softens stand

Karunanidhi softens stand
LTTE became terror unit later on

Chennai

: Caught in a catch-22 situation following his pro-LTTE stand, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today came in with a clarification, this time pacifying the Congress leadership. Speaking to a private television channel Mr Karunanidhi said that the heinous crime of killing former premier Rajeev Gandhi cannot be put into the back burner and the LTTE cannot be pardoned for this.

He pointed out that the LTTE was not formed as a terror outfit and was later turned into a terror organisation. Mr Karunanidhi also said that he was just pointing towards the problems faced by the Tamil community in Sri Lanka.

Mr Karunanidhi had on Sunday termed LTTE chief Prabhakaran as his good friend. He had opined that Mr Prabhakaran could not be blamed, if some members of his group might be involved in terrorism. “Is Prabhakaran a terrorist? No, I don’t see it that way. Prabhakaran is my good friend. I am not a terrorist. I will deeply regret it if Prabhakaran is killed. I will regret it. I will say it happened because of a lack of unity among the Tamil groups in Sri Lanka" – Mr Kaunanidhi has stated.

The Congress leadership reacted sharply to the words of Mr Karunanidhi, ally partner in UPA by categorically stating that the party views LTTE as a terror unit. Commenting on the remarks made by Mr Karunanidhi, Kapil Sibal Congress spokesman clarified that What the Tamil Nadu CM said was his personal opinion.

The strong stand adopted by the Congress leadership persuaded Mr Karunanidhi to have a re-look on his strategy and this finally resulted in a u-turn of his stand.
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