LTTE will not be given a free run in TN: Karuna

TN CM M Karunanidhi said it 'was wrong' to say that LTTE had a 'free run' in the state and he would not allow such a thing to happen.

Rejecting Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s reported remarks on the LTTE issue, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Monday said it “was wrong” to say that the outfit had a “free run” in the state and asserted that his government would not allow such a thing to happen.

Chidambaram had reportedly remarked at a public meeting in Nagercoil on Saturday that the LTTE continued to operate in the state and asked the government to “nip the issue in the bud”.

Reacting to the remark, Karunanidhi wrote in the DMK mouthpiece, Murasoli, that “our government will not certainly allow the LTTE to operate from Tamil Nadu”.

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He said 11 LTTE men were arrested and 12 cases registered against them during the last 20 months of the DMK rule. As many as 92 LTTE supporters were arrested and 40 of the arrested were detained under National Security Act.

“Is this not a proof that we have nipped in the bud the LTTE activities in the state”, he asked.

On Congress MLA C Gnanasekaran’s remarks in the state assembly that the intelligence wing of the Tamil Nadu police had to be vigilant against LTTE men, Karunanidhi said the same Gnanasekaran had praised the “Q” branch police, which functioned under the intelligence wing. “It is surprising to note that he does not know this”, he said.