Chennai Oct 05: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today said that she was awaiting a response from Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to her demand for the removal of Union Minister and MDMK leader K Kannappan, against whom the state government has decided to slap Pota. 'We are awaiting reply from him', she told reporters here after a cabinet meeting.

Asked whether the state government, which on September 22 last decided to slap Pota against Kannappan for his alleged open support to the outlawed LTTE, would invoke the provisions of the anti-terrorism law against him, she said, "no decision was taken on the matter at the meeting".

Jayalalithaa said that through her letter to the Prime Minister, she had apprised him about everything on the issue.
Asked for comments on the reports that Vajpayee had referred the matter to the union law ministry, she said, "I do not know any thing about it. I have released to the press the letter written to the Prime Minister."

In a five-page letter to Vajpayee late last month, Jayalalithaa termed Kannappan's conduct as "anti-national" and said his open support to LTTE had rendered him ineligible to continue in office as a Union Minister and demanded his ouster from the council of ministers.
Declaring her intention not to wait indefinitely for Vajpayee to take action against the minister, she had then warned that in the event of the Prime Minister not taking action due to "compelling political reasons" the state government would be constrained to take action.

Bureau Report