Chennai, Feb 14: More than six years after her party pulled down the United Front government on the issue of DMK’s alleged links with LTTE which had assassinated Rajiv Gandhi, Congress President Sonia Gandhi met M Karunanidhi for the first time and gave a clean chit to that party on the issue. After the first-ever visit by a Congress President to the DMK office, she told reporters that the final report of the Jain Commission, which went into Rajiv’s assassination, had made no “negative comments” against DMK leaders on the issue.
“The interim report had made some adverse comments on some (DMK) leaders. But the final report did not have any negative comments on the leaders. Which is more important. Interim or final,” she asked in reply to reporters’ questions on the subject.
On the basis of the interim report of the Commission that the alleged links between the LTTE and DMK had contributed to Rajiv’s assassination, the Congress had demanded the ouster of DMK ministers from the I K Gujral government. When it was not heeded to, the party withdrew support to the government resulting in its fall.
On a five-hour visit to Chennai to consolidate the alliance between the two parties, Gandhi was hosted a tea at the DMK headquarters with top leaders from both the sides attending it. Congress has got 10 out of the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu under a seat-sharing formula. Bureau Report