Chennai: Continuing to plead for three death
row convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, DMK chief M Karunanidhi Friday asked the state cabinet to pass a resolution to press for clemency for them and said the Centre
also should do `its bit` in the matter.
"It is still not late. Don`t just stop with passing a
resolution in the Assembly. Convene the Cabinet and adopt a
resolution (seeking their clemency)," he told the Jayalalithaa
government.
Karunanidhi said his government had adopted a similar
approach in the case of two death row convicts and former
Naxalites, Thyagu and Kaliyaperumal.
Addressing a function to commemorate the birth
anniversaries of Dravidian icons E V R Periyar and C N
Annadurai besides his party`s founding, Karunanidhi said the
convicts -- Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan -- had spent
nearly 20 years in prison for the former prime minister`s
killing.
Tamil Nadu Assembly had recently passed a resolution
urging President Pratibha Patil to reconsider the mercy plea
of the trio, which she had rejected earlier.
"Once such a resolution is forwarded to the governor who
in turn sends it to the Centre, it should also come forward to
save them. This is our plea and request," he said.
On a petition from the three convicts, the Madras High
Court earlier this month stayed their execution for eight
weeks.
PTI
