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'We can't forgive LTTE for killing Rajiv Gandhi'

Monday, April 20, 2009,13:50 [IST]

Chennai, Apr 20: In a total reversal of stance, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Monday, Apr 20 has said that he cannot forget that Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was behind former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's death.

Speaking to reporters, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) supremo said that he never disagreed on the fact that LTTE was a terrorist outfit. He said that the LTTE did not start as a terrorist group, but became one over time.

"Prabhakaran was a freedom fighter who later turned into a terrorist, my statement was misinterpreted," said Karunanidhi.

Clarifying his statement he said that he only expressed concern for the Tamil cause in Sri Lanka and never denied the fact that LTTE was a terror group.

He added, "We cannot forgive the LTTE for killing Rajiv Gandhi...Sriperumbudur cannot be forgotten."

Earlier, in an exclusive interview with NDTV Karunanidhi had said that LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran was a good friend of his. He added that Prabhakaran himself was not a terrorist and LTTE not a terror group. However, if few people in the group indulged in terrorism it was not Prabhakaran's fault.

ANI

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Tags: karunanidhi, dmk, tamil nadu, chennai, sri lanka, ltte, prabhakaran, terrorism.

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By: kumaran

On: 21 Apr 2009 9:54 am

Whether Karunandhi owns words or not, all his questions are legitimate questions that beg a convincing answer. He is the smartest politician in India. Unfortunately he, like all politicians, will sell his conscience for money and power. LTTE has become the sacrificial goat, in the manuvaadi game that Congressis and their puppet masters play. There is only one inescapable conclusion. The Congress-wallahs and their manuvaadi cohorts should be crying hoarse about LTTE in order to save their own skin. The Tamils of SriLanka are being sacrificed to save their own hide.

By: kumaran

On: 21 Apr 2009 9:47 am

What did Karunandihi say then? In a 1997 interview he granted to the Frontline magazine’s editor N.Ram and correspondent T.S.Subramanian following the release of interim report of Jain Commission findings, Karunanidhi had stated the following: “…If, I, as a writer, were asked to write a story on this assassination case, I would write it as follows: Some stories introduce a hero and a heroine, they go forward and finally end in a conclusion. Some stories begin with the climax and are then narrated in flashback. As far as this story is concerned, it is one that should begin with the climax. How should it begin? How did the human bomb Dhanu, charge-sheeted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, come to Tamil Nadu? Who came with her? Where did she stay and with whom did she stay? Who took her to Sriperumbudur? Who arranged the programme of Rajiv Gandhi? Who suddenly made changes in the programme? To what places did Sivarajan go in Tamil Nadu? Why could Sivarajan not be apprehended till he went to Bangalore? It is said that the place where Sivarajan stayed and was cornered in Bangalore belongs to a Congressman. What are the details? At the place where Rajiv Gandhi died, no Congressman was injured. The persons who died there were police officers who provided him security. At this point of time, there was an alliance between Rajiv Gandhi’s party, the Congress (I), and the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu. Why did no candidate belonging to that alliance go to the public meeting addressed by Rajiv Gandhi? After his death, why was no effort made to see the body at the airport? Not only that. When Rajiv Gandhi traveled from the airport to Chennai, though Jayalalitha was not then in town, did any AIADMK candidate who contested with Congress (I) support, or any AIADMK worker, receive him? …” [Frontline magazine, Nov.29-Dec.12, 1997]

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