Naam Tamilar Katchi chief co-ordinator Seeman on Monday tried to side-step the startling claim made by former Congress leader and Tamil Nationalist leader, Pazha Nedumaaran, that LTTE supremo V. Prabhakaran, who is believed to have been killed in the final stages of the war in 2009, was indeed alive and well.
Speaking to the reporters in Erode while campaigning for the bypoll in Erode (East) Assembly constituency, Mr. Seeman said that he too got a call from London on ‘Maveerar Day’, which is observed on November 27 each year to remember the sacrifices of fighters of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, to announce that LTTE chief Prabhakaran was indeed alive.
“I got a call from London on ‘Maveerar Dhinam’ that I must make a statement that ‘Annan’ [Prabhakaran] is alive. I said, ‘Let Annan himself communicate this to me’ and moved on. Ayya (Nedumaran) didn’t tell me anything. Like everybody else, I too learnt about this from press conference. There is no need to debate this,” he said.
Mr. Seeman continued to strongly oppose the pen memorial for former DMK president and Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, proposed by the State Government to be built in waters of the Marina Beach.