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Karunanidhi says MDMA probe against him will bring out many facts

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today declared that he was ready to face any probe in connection with the Rajiv Gandhi assassination based on the findings of the Jain Commission and the Centre's Action Taken Report as this would bring to light many facts including who had funded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and who had received money from it.

Reiterating his charge that the BJP-led government had included his name in the ATR due to political pressure from AIADMK leader J Jayalalitha, he told newsmen in Madras that the probe should cover the 'Indira Gandhi period' so that facts as to who had offered financial support to the LTTE, who had provided arms, who had received money from it and who had made it a means for their regular income would come to light.

He said Prime Minister A B Vajpayee's participation, as an Opposition leader in May 1986 at the Tamil Eelam Supporters' Organisation conference in Madurai, which was attended by the LTTE and other militant groups, would also come to light.

These facts had already been brought forth before the Jain Commission which probed the conspiracy aspect of the assassination and if he was inquired again based on the ATR, these would further be confirmed, he said.

"Why should I ask for it?" he shot back when asked whether he would ask the Centre to completely delete his name from the ATR. It would reflect political decency if the BJP-led government came forward to remove his name from the ATR on its own. "But those (the BJP) who preach dharma had taken the path of adharma and I am ready to face any probe," he added.

Turning to the central government's fate, Karunanidhi said uncertainty will continue to plague the Vajpayee government at the Centre as long as it depended on the AIADMK for survival, and he reiterated his prediction that the BJP-led coalition government would not be able to complete its full term and a mid-term poll to the Lok Sabha was inevitable.

Asked about Jayalalitha's assertion that the AIADMK-led front's support to the Vajpayee government was still under review, Karunanidhi said uncertainty would continue as long as the prime minister depended on the support of Jayalalitha who, he alleged, had accused him of taking bribes and betraying Tamil Nadu on the Cauvery issue just for the sake of survival.

The BJP had been voted to power under the illusion that it would provide a stable government, and it was desperate to save its government so it is stomaching all insults heaped upon it by Jayalalitha, he claimed.

UNI

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