New Delhi: Tamil Nadu with 40 seats up for grabs - if you include Puducherry - goes to polls on Wednesday, which is why Congress President Sonia Gandhi was there reaching out to voters and to her ally, the DMK.
However, what was noteworthy was that though the Congress describes the LTTE as a terrorist group, Sonia Gandhi sat silent when Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi read out a tribute to slain LTTE leader Tamilselvan.
The poem and Sonia Gandhi's silence has prompted AIADMK chief Jayalalitha to question Sonia's stand on the LTTE.
Karunanidhi in turn attacked AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa for raking up the issue of a separate Eelam and described it as "strange".
"In 2007, when I penned an eulogy condoling the death of slain LTTE spokesperson S P Tamilselvan, she demanded the dismissal of my government, saying the LTTE was a banned organisation in India and its chief Prabhakaran a proclaimed offender," he added.
Jayalalithaa responded sharply to the Chief Minister's comments saying, "It does not make any sense. What is the connection between what he was referring to (her opposition to an eulogy penned by him condoling the death of an LTTE leader in 2007) and my demand for Tamil Eelam. There is no connection between the two.".
To a question on Karunanidhi reciting a few lines from the controversial eulogy in the presence of Gandhi at the rally, she said the question should be put to the Congress chief.
Replying to another question, Jayalalithaa said she had stated that the AIADMK was opposed to any form of terrorism.
On Sonia Gandhi's claim that the third front would collapse like a pack of cards, she said "The poll results will speak for themselves."
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