Tamil cause: ally DMK steps on gas, 14 MPs ‘put in’ papers

Stepping up the offensive on the Centre to come out with concrete steps to ensure ceasefire in Lanka...

Stepping up the offensive on the Centre to come out with concrete steps to ensure ceasefire in Lanka, 14 DMK members in the present Lok Sabha, including Union ministers, handed over their ‘post-dated’ resignation letters — addressed to the Lok Sabha Speaker — to party president and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Friday night.

On Thursday night, three Rajya Sabha members of the DMK had handed over their resignation to the party president, following Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi who was the first to do so on Wednesday. Led by senior DMK leader and Union Shipping and Transport Minister T R Baalu, Telecom Minister A Raja, junior ministers Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan, S S Palanimanickam, K Venkatapathy, S Regupathy and Radhika Selvi, MPs handed over letters to Karunanidhi at Anna Arivalayam.

The date of all resignations has been put as October 29, the day after the last day of a two-week ultimatum issued to the Centre at a multi-party meeting on Tuesday.

Though they have handed over the resignations, the members and ministers would perform their duties till the last day of the deadline, said party sources, adding that the resignation letters were symbolic, expressing their willingness to stand by the decision taken by the party high command. In fact, two of the RS members who ‘resigned’ on Thursday night, Tiruchy N Siva and A A Jinnah, attended the first day of the current session on Friday.

“We have given the Centre ample time to deal with the issue; these resignations are not intended to put the Centre under any undue pressure,” said a member.

The meeting on Tuesday had resolved that members of both Houses hailing from Tamil Nadu will tender their resignation at the end of the notice period on October 28, if the Union Government does not fulfil demands including immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka, providing relief material, food and medicines to the Tamil families affected by the war and ceasing all support to the Lankan forces in their war against the LTTE. The meeting had the representation of 37 out of the 39 LS members from Tamil Nadu.

The tough posturing by the DMK has not gone down well among the other parties who attended the meeting. The state unit of the Congress party, for one, has been caught in the middle with regional interest on one side and national perspective on the other. “When the state unit informed the high command about the ground situation, the Prime Minister responded immediately, voicing his concerns openly and clearly. The External Affairs Ministry has been taking follow up action to solve the crisis. Moreover, the DMK is a part of the ruling alliance in the Centre,” said a Congress leader.

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Sources in the PMK, an ally of the UPA and a party to the decision to resign, scoffed at the resignations, stating that it was an affair within the DMK. “If these were indeed resignations, it should have been addressed to the Prime Minister, Speaker or RS Chairman. By handing over the letter to their party president, it is clear that it is only an affair within their party,” said a senior PMK leader.

Meanwhile, Opposition leader and AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa challenged the DMK to dissolve the state Government, if they were serious about safeguarding the interest of Tamil lives. Charging that the human chain and resignation of MPs were just fodder for the media, she dared Karunanidhi to resign from the post of CM along with his party MLAs, if he was serious about the resignation threat.

DMK’s state ally VCK, whose leader Thol Thirumavalavan is an LTTE sympathiser, has announced that the party cadres will organise a rail roko agitation across the state on October 23. In yet another related development, a group of advocates from Coimbatore burnt the effigy of

Defence Minister A K Antony, protesting the Indian military assistance provided to Sri Lanka in its war to eliminate the rebels.