Manmohan Singh defers to Jayalalithaa on Lankan Tamils

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the UPA government and the Congress seem to have adopted a cordial and positive attitude to Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa. And the chief minister seems to appreciate the gesture and she is more than willing to reciprocate.

The chief minister told the media that the prime minister had sent national security advisor Shiva Shankar Menon before he led the Indian delegation to Colombo to discuss the rehabilitation and political reconciliation with Sri Lankan Tamils.

She said that Menon was also present during her meeting with the prime minister on Tuesday, when the issue of Sri Lankan Tamils came up for discussion.

The Tamil Nadu assembly had passed a resolution with regard to the state of Sri Lankan Tamils as well as the constant harassment faced by Tamil Nadu fishermen at the hands of Lankan navy personnel. Referring to the Kachathivu island issue, she said that India had ceded Kachatihivu to Sri Lanka in 1974, which was just 11 km from the Tamil Nadu coast. She said that at the time Karunanidhi was the chief minister and he could have filed a petition in the Supreme Court.