Congress will continue to oppose LTTE

The Congress said it would continue to oppose the LTTE and there was no change in its stance toward the banned militant outfit.

The party High Command had already passed a resolution in this regard in New Delhi.

"The Congress stance on LTTE does not change. We will oppose the LTTE," AICC Secretary K B Krishnamurthy said replying to questions from reporters.

Congress leader and Union Minister E V K S Elangovan had yesterday expressed concern over reports of increasing activities of the LTTE in Tamil Nadu and asked the state government to take action against political leaders expressing support to the banned outfit.

Krishnamurthy, on his first visit to Tamil Nadu after being appointed in-charge of party affairs in the state, said the High Command was satisfied with the report submitted by a three-member panel on the attack on State Youth Congress President 'Mayura' S Jayakumar here recently.

Terming Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's eulogy praising slain LTTE leader S P Thamilchelvan as an "isolated incident", the Congress on Monday said that the relations between the party and DMK have "not been strained" over the issue.

"Absolutely the relationship between Congress and DMK has not been strained. DMK leader Karunanidhi never supported LTTE. He only wrote an eulogy on a particular person (Thamilchelvan)," AICC media department chairman Veerappa Moily told PTI.

The DMK chief had written a poem eulogising the LTTE political wing leader soon after his killing in an air strike by Sri Lankan Air Force on November 2. It was an "isolated incident", Moily said and added that it cannot be taken as an attitude towards the LTTE.

"We cannot generalise things. Karunanidhi never stood for the LTTE. He has even taken action against the people who have supported the organisation. There is no confusion on this issue."

"The Congress will neither forgive nor forget the killing of our beloved leader Rajiv Gandhi by the LTTE, which is banned in India, and the party stands for it," Moily said.

He also said the Congress don't think that Karunanidhi will have a different view on this issue.

PTI