Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Congress has not forgiven Rajiv killers, says Vasan

— Photo: M. Vedhan

A CLOSE LOOK: Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation G.K. Vasan going through ‘Desiya Murasu’,a fortnightly magazine before launching it in Chennai on Sunday. (From left) former TNCC president Kumari Ananthan, Royapuram Mano, magazine editor Gopanna and CLP leader D. Sudarssanam are in the picture.

CHENNAI: The Congress party has neither forgiven nor forgotten the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi by the LTTE, said G. K.Vasan, Union Minister of State for Statistics and Programme implementation, here on Sunday.

Talking to reporters after releasing the fortnightly Desiya Murasu, Mr. Vasan said the death of Rajiv Gandhi had derailed India from the path of development. “The political parties that campaign directly or indirectly for lifting the ban on the LTTE will be rejected by the people,” he added.

Describing as “sensitive and important” the role of the Congress-led UPA government in the Sri Lankan Tamils issue he said India would ensure that Tamils got rights on par with Sinhalese in Sri Lanka.

Mr Vasan said a few political parties in Tamil Nadu were just paying lip service to the Tamils instead of co-operating with the Centre, which had the powers, to help the Tamils in the island nation. “It is a larger issue and you cannot approach it with narrow political considerations. We can gradually find a solution to the ethnic crisis,” he said adding that the Rajiv Gandhi-Jayawardane agreement could be a basis for finding a solution. Former Union Minister S.R. Balasubramoniyan said the LTTE would never change its true character.

Congress Legislature party leader D.Sudarssanam, party MPs B.S. Gnanadesikan, J.M. Haroon, MLAs ESS Raman, Jeyapaul and Vidial Sekar and editor and publisher of Desiya Murasu A. Gopanna participated. The first copy of the fortnightly was received by former TNCC president Kumari Anandan.

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