Joining issue with his archrival and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa over the Katchatheevu issue, DMK chief M Karunanidhi today denied her charge that he did not take any effort to retrieve the islet ceded to Sri Lanka by India.
A day after the agreement was signed four decades ago, he had convened an all-party meeting where a resolution was adopted against it, Karunanidhi said.
AIADMK had, however, not signed the resolution, he said in a letter to his partymen. Karunanidhi was Chief Minister of the state then.
In pursuant to that resolution, he had written to the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi expressing "disappointment," over India's move and sought "appropriate action," taking into consideration the all-party resolution.
He recalled he had also moved a resolution in this regard then, which was adopted by Tamil Nadu assembly while taking up the issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2006 also, recalling a resolution passed by the assembly in 1991 during AIADMK rule.
On Friday, Jayalalithaa asked what action Karunanidhi had taken to retrieve the tiny islet.
Karunanidhi said his party had never shied away from the issue and his partymen had taken up the matter in Parliament also, soon after the ceding.
