AIADMK govt wants Rajiv Gandhi's assassins hanged: Vaiko

MDMK today charged the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu with adopting a stand "similar to the one taken by the previous DMK government and hoodwinking the people" on the issue of commuting the death penalty of the three Rajiv Gandhi assassins.

MDMK chief Vaiko said in a statement that the state government's counter-affidafit in the Madras High Court today wanted the court to dismiss the petitions by Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, challenging the delay in the president's rejection of their mercy petitions.

"What does it mean. It means that the AIADMK government wants the three to be hanged," he said. In an affidavit filed in the Madras High Court today, the Principal Secretary to the State Home Department, Rameshram Mishra on behalf of the government declined to remark on the claim about public support for commuting the death sentence of the trio and called for dismissal of the mercy pleas.

Vaiko charged that the AIADMK government's resolution in the state assembly on August 30 last urging the Centre to stop the hanging of three was only to "hoodwink the people of Tamil Nadu".

When it came to the protection of Tamils rights, both the DMK and AIADMK governments are "two sides of the same coin," he alleged.