Chennai: The Congress' state unit in Tamil
Nadu on Wednesday described as a "big lie" Sri Lankan President
Mahinda Rajapaksa's denial that India had pressured Colombo to
offer a political solution to the ethnic community in the
island nation.
TNCC president K V Thangkabalu also demanded the Centre
should take action to know if the aid provided by it for
Tamils' welfare had reached the intended beneficiaries.
"It has been widely reported that top Indian leaders
including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs
Minister SM Krishna and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee
(as then External Affairs Minister) have personally taken up
the issue of permanent solution for Tamils with Rajapaksa.
"While he had assured then that proper action will be
taken, why is he suddenly singing a different tune? What is
the pressure (for him to do so)," he said in a statement here.
Thangkabalu , whose party had faced flak from pro-Tamil
groups for failing to prevent civilian casualties in the last
phase of the battle between Lankan army and LTTE, said India
had provided Rs 8000 crore in aid for Tamils' welfare and it
should now probe whether this was spent for them.
"Rajapaksa has provided false information that India did
not pressure Sri Lanka on ensuring rehabilitation of Tamils.
This is big lie. India should continue pressing Colombo on
ensuring Tamils' rights and should work out alternate methods
for this purpose if the present steps don't yield results," he
said.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse had on Tuesday
denied that he had come under pressure from India to offer the
minority Tamils a political solution, saying that any
settlement to the matter will have to be approved by the
Parliament.
"There was no pressure from India on the thirteenth
amendment of thirteen plus," Rajapaksa had said.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, June 29, 2011, 15:54