Chennai/New Delhi (PTI): Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu, DMK supremo Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Sunday created a flutter calling Velupillai Prabhakaran a "good friend" who is not a terrorist and said he would be saddened if the LTTE chief was killed in the on-going war in Sri Lanka.

Mr. Karunanidhi's comments put the Congress in a spot which stopped short of outright condemnation with the Tamils issue following the hostilities in Sri Lanka emerging as a major campaign issue in Tamil Nadu where the polls will be held in the last phase on May 13.

Mr. Karunanidhi, who has strong views on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue and on the LTTE which is banned in India, said the LTTE has "genuine and legitimate" goals of creating an independent Tamil state in Sri Lanka, but certain methods adopted by it are wrong.

"Prabhakaran is my good friend. I am not a terrorist," Mr. Karunanidhi told NDTV in an interview when asked whether he saw the LTTE supremo a terrorist.

Subsequently asked by his daughter and DMK Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, who was present during the interview, whether he saw Prabhakaran as a terrorist, Mr. Karunanidhi, speaking in Tamil, said "Naan appadi paarkkalai (I don't see that way)."

Congress spokesperson Kapil Sibal termed the DMK chief's remarks as his "personal opinion" but said it viewed Prabhakaran as a terrorist and his outfit an extremist organisation.

Another spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the Congress-led UPA government values its long association with the DMK. "We have a valuable ally and a partner in Tamil Nadu but that cannot mean what our unequivocal established policy (on LTTE) can change.