Tamil Nadu   

Identify forces sympathetic to LTTE: BJP

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: Bharatiya Janata Party senior leader M. Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday called upon the Union and Tamil Nadu Governments to be more proactive in keeping a watch on the activities of supporters or sympathisers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the country, in the wake of the LTTE's air attack in Sri Lanka on Monday.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Naidu, accompanied by L. Ganesan, BJP State president, said: "The situation (in Sri Lanka) is becoming precarious. Happenings there will have some impact on this part of the country. So, we should be extra careful."

Urging the Governments to identify forces that were sympathetic to the LTTE, the BJP leader said, "Sympathising with Sri Lankan Tamils is different from sympathising with the LTTE."

Mr. Naidu, in-charge of the party's affairs for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, ridiculed the comments of Rahul Gandhi, Member of Parliament from the Amethi constituency, on the Babri Masjid demolition. Recalling that the demolition took place when the Congress was in power at the Centre, he wondered how the Congress could disown its own Prime Minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao. The Congress MP's observations only betrayed that "parivar" (family) was more important than the party, he said.

Asked to comment on Union Minister Kapil Sibal's statement that the BJP would align with the Bahujan Samaj Party in the U.P. after the polls, Mr. Naidu denied it and said this showed that the Congress was desperate.

"We will not align with the BSP or the SP (Samajwadi Party)."

Noting that the BJP launched its election campaign on Sunday, he said the party would focus on criminalisation, casteism, communalisation, corruption and price rise.

To a query how Mr. Naidu, being a national leader, could associate himself with a memorandum presented by Karnataka leaders to the Prime Minister on the Cauvery issue, the BJP leader replied that he had a responsibility to fulfil, as he was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka.

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