Accusing DMK president M. Karunanidhi of betraying the interests of Tamils not only in the State but also in Sri Lanka, AIADMK leader and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Saturday said she would continue to work for ushering in a separate Tamil Eelam and enable Tamils live with full freedom and self-respect in the island nation.
Her party would press the Centre to provide dual citizenship to Sri Lankan Tamils in Tamil Nadu so that they could get employment opportunities easily. It was the stand of her government that Sri Lankan Tamils living here should be repatriated, on their consent, only after complete normalcy and full protection was ensured for them back home, she said, campaigning for 67 of her party and alliance candidates from Tiruchi and eight surrounding districts here on Saturday.
Ms.Jayalalithaa chose to address the rally in the evening where the mercury had hovered around 41 degree Celsius in recent days. She accused the DMK and Congress of being responsible for the fall of Tamils in Sri Lanka. “Mr.Karunanidhi, who withdrew support to the UPA government in 2013 ostensibly on the Sri Lankan issue, got the support of the Congress when he wanted his daughter Kanimozhi to become a Rajya Sabha member.
He severed the relationship with the Congress during the Lok Sabha elections only to join hands with the national party again now. This indicates that his decision to withdraw support for the UPA government in 2013 was for some other reason,” Ms.Jayalalithaa claimed.
She also accused the DMK of indulging in false propaganda on the issues of suicides by farmers and hike in fertilizer prices in the State.
Referring to a DMK advertisement, she said fertilizer prices were hiked during the UPA regime with the approval of the Union Cabinet in which M.K.Alagiri was a Minister. Farmer suicides had come down when compared to the DMK regime. The DMK, out of fear of defeat, was staging a drama to portray that people were turning hostile towards AIADMK candidates, she said.
