Probe Kannan's charge: BJP

By Our Staff Reporter

PONDICHERRY, DEC. 14. The general secretary of the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP, Mr. L. Ganesan, today appealed to the Pondicherry Chief Minister, Mr. P. Shanmugham, to order a thorough probe into the allegations made by former PWD Minister, Mr. Kannan. It may be recalled that Mr. Kannan had accused the Cooperative Minister, Mr. Theni C. Jayakumar, of having links with the LTTE.

He said the decision of Mr. Kannan would give a new turn to politics in the Union Territory.

Mr. Ganesan said a delegation of partymen from Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry would apprise the highcommand of the strategies to be adopted for the Assembly polls at the next month's executive committee meeting in Delhi. He hoped that a clear picture would emerge at the meeting scheduled for January 4 and 5.

He said if Mr. Kannan decided to have an alliance with the NDA, the BJP would wholeheartedly welcome him. Replying to a question whether there would be any change in case Mr. Kannan joined the NDA, Mr. Ganesan said there would be no change as the BJP, the PMK and the DMK had expressed their views clearly without any difference of opinion.

The Pondicherry BJP president, Mr. A. M. Krishnamoorthy, the member of the Executive Committee of the BJP national committee, Mr. K. N. Lakshmanan, were also present.

Plea to Lt. Governor

A delegation of the Pondicherry committee of the BJP comprising its president, Mr. A. M. Krishnamoorthy, the organising secretary, Mr. Ragu Sundaraman, and others presented on Wednesday a memorandum to the Lt. Governor, Dr. Rajani Rai, urging her to direct the government to seek confidence vote in the Assembly in the context of current political developments. The copy of the memorandum was distributed to newspersons later.

The party felt that the dismissal of a Minister and divesting some MLAs of the posts of Chairmen of certain boards had projected a picture of lack of majority for the ministry and hence the need for a confidence vote.

The memorandum referred to the sustained allegations made by Mr. P. Kannan, the dismissed PWD Minister, against another Minister, Mr. Theni C. Jayakumar that the latter had links with the banned LTTE. He had also charged in a memorandum with supportive evidence submitted to the Chief Minister that Mr. Jayakumar had been giving shelter to members of the banned outfit. Already, an enquiry was on in respect of the alleged missing of a Home Guard who had been in the service of Mr. Jayakumar.

The PCC(I) leader Mr. V. Narayanswamy, had also alleged that there had been presence of LTTE in Pondicherry. These showed that Pondicherry had become a hideout for violent, divisive and anti- national elements and a haven for the banned outfit.

The BJP felt anguished that no action was taken against Mr. Jayakumar. Instead the person who had raised the allegations had been dismissed from the ministry.

The Government appeared to be keen about remaining in power instead of taking steps to protect the people against banned outfits. Hence the Lt. Governor should intervene and initiate a probe so that appropriate action could be taken against the Minister concerned, the memorandum said.

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