Pranab will go to Sri Lanka soon, PM assures TN CM

Although the Government’s hands are full dealing with the diplomatic fallout of the Mumbai terror attacks, PM Manmohan Singh on Thursday promised Tamil Nadu CM M Karunanidhi that he would send External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to Colombo soon to persuade Sri Lanka to go for a political solution to the ethnic crisis.

Mukherjee’s visit would come “as early as possible”, the PM told a delegation of political parties from Tamil Nadu, led by DMK chief Karunanidhi, who met him demanding that India issue a strong warning to Sri Lanka to end the military action and arrange for a political dialogue between Colombo and LTTE to arrive at a peaceful solution.

The UPA Government is under immense pressure from the DMK to intervene in the Sri Lankan crisis. The DMK has ruled out withdrawal of support to the ruling coalition on this issue though. To build pressure on the Centre, DMK ministers in the Union Cabinet and its MPs had tendered their resignations to the party chief in October, but the tension was defused after Mukherjee met Karunanidhi in Chennai.

While the main Opposition AIADMK and parties like the BJP and the MDMK did not join the multi-party delegation dubbing it an “eye-wash”, the CPI which was part of it said the PM’s response was not satisfactory.