LTTE rocks Congress-DMK boat again

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger guerrillas are once again at the heart of a row between Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK party and the Congress.

Chief Minister and DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi has expressed his disgust over the stand of the Congress, some of whose leaders have accused him of going soft on those in Tamil Nadu allegedly sympathetic to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) .

In an unusual outburst, Karunanidhi Sunday described as 'untrue' allegations that his government was allowing the LTTE to have a free run in Tamil Nadu. He asserted that 92 people linked to the LTTE had been arrested in the past 20 months that the DMK has ruled the state that is separated from Sri Lanka by a strip of sea.

Alleging he 'suspected a conspiracy' to destabilise his regime, he reacted angrily: 'Our self-respect is dearer than the crown of thorns that denotes power. We are ready to lose power if (our self-respect) is under threat.'

Read more,
http://www.indiaenews.com/politics/20080206/95912.htm