Sharing a platform with DMK patriarch and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today strongly stood by the alliance with the DMK, a key partner of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
Gandhi was, however, silent on AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa over her Eelam demands. Addressing a joint rally a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met the ailing DMK chief, Sonia skirted issues like calls for a separate Eelam in Sri Lanka and sending of Indian Army to enable its creation — demands made by former chief minister Jayalalithaa. The DMK later jumped into the Eelam bandwagon.
With just a day left for the campaigning to the fifth and final phase of Lok Sabha polls, Gandhi addressed the sole election meeting in Tamil Nadu with an ailing Karunanidhi by her side. This is the first meeting between Gandhi and Karunanidhi after her son Rahul Gandhi’s reported overtures to the AIADMK for a possible post-poll tie-up had created a flutter.
The two leaders displayed bonhomie by exchanging bouquets and shawls with Karunanidhi describing Gandhi as a ‘lamp of sacrifice’ and she, in turn, calling him a ‘pillar of UPA and the most experienced leader of the nation’. “Our government had done everything possible to bring an end to the hostilities and it was due to our resolute efforts that Sri Lanka announced conclusion of combat operations and people moved to safer places,” Sonia said. Meanwhile, pro-LTTE leader P Nedumaran, well-known Tamil film director Bharathiraja and over 150 others were taken into custody when they attempted to stage a blackflag demonstration against Gandhi’s visit.