UPA 'insensitive' to sufferings of SL Tamils: Venkaiah BJP Leader:

UPA 'insensitive' to sufferings of SL Tamils: Venkaiah
PTISunday, March 1, 2009 20:14 IST Email

Chennai: Charging the UPA with being insensitive to the sufferings of Sri Lankan Tamils, the BJP said on Sunday that the Congress-led government had not taken even 'a single meaningful step' to persuade the island government to ensure the safety of the Tamil civilians.


Prakash Parsekar / DNA
"The LTTE is not the issue now," BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu said."The LTTE is not the issue now. The safety, security and welfare of Tamils is important and the Sri Lankan government should pay attention to this," senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu said.

He said India should prevail upon Colombo to halt the hostilities and that if the country failed to act now, it would be construed as remaining a "mute spectator."

He criticised the DMK "for not actively taking up" the issue despite being part of the ruling UPA. "Despite DMK's powerful presence in UPA, there are questions being raised as to why this issue has received such a lukewarm response," he said.

The BJP would highlight the "failure" of the UPA on this issue during its election campaign, he said.

On the party's poll preparedness, he said that the thrust was to ensure more contribution from southern states, which contributed about 130 seats. Senior BJP leader LK Advani is scheduled to visit Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu on March 7, he said.

While the BJP's final list of candidates would be out by mid March, the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry units have been asked to make recommendations on the matter by March 5, he said.