Stating that four out of the seven convicts hailed from Sri Lanka, B S Gnanadesikan said the conspiracy to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi was hatched in Sri Lanka just like the Mumbai attack plan was devised in Pakistan.
Hence, it was important to treat the pleas of former prime minster's killers on a separate footing altogether.These convicts do not deserve remission of sentence, aimed at reform and rehabilitation under criminal law, Gnanadesikan said.
Several other leaders of state Congress including former union minister E V K S Elangovan slammed the Tamil Nadu government for its decision to release the convicts.
Hundreds of party workers, sporting black badges, chanted slogans that Congress would never allow the convicts' release.