Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi stepped up the pressure on the UPA regime to intervene in Sri Lanka's 'war against ethnic Tamils' by announcing a massive human-chain-cum-rally in the city on October 21.
This, he said in a statement, would be yet another reminder of the six resolutions adopted at Tuesday's all-party meeting and "reiterate our position" to the Centre on the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka. People from all districts have been invited to participate in the human-chain protest.
The agitation spread further as lawyers in different parts of the state, including Madras High Court, boycotted proceedings on Thursday condemning the "genocide" on Tamils in northern Sri Lanka.
The 18-odd DMK MPs, however, did not send in their resignation letters as was expected. "That is not necessary, though Kanmozhi took the lead to send out a strong signal that positions of power did not matter in expressing solidarity with the suffering Sri Lankan Tamils," DMK sources told HT.
Kanimozhi — the Rajya Sabha MP sent her resignation on Wednesday to her father Karunanaidhi — also wanted to drive home the point that Rajya Sabha MPs "will not lag behind, when their counterparts in the Lok Sabha are forced to resign", the sources said.
{{/usCountry}}Kanimozhi — the Rajya Sabha MP sent her resignation on Wednesday to her father Karunanaidhi — also wanted to drive home the point that Rajya Sabha MPs "will not lag behind, when their counterparts in the Lok Sabha are forced to resign", the sources said.
{{/usCountry}}But sources said the party MPs would collectively submit it to the party president at an appropriate time.
Karunanidhi refuted AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa's remarks dubbing the all-party meet and its resolutions a "farce" and "deceptive drama. He said: "The Tamil Nadu people know to whom that expression (fraud) correctly applies."