Some relief to Singh by Baalu; Karunanidhi – Jayalalithaa locked in word war over SL Tamils

Twists and turns continue to mark the Tamil Nadu litical scene. To the relief of Congress leadership, a DMK senior has clarified that the 14-day period set at the all-party meeting in Chennai on Oct 14 for action by Delhi vis-à-vis war zone of Sri Lanka is not a deadline even as AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa has dared DMK patriarch Muthavel Karunanidhi to 'quit' over SL-Tamil row.
In the first clarification from the DMK camp since the 'all-party conclave' delivered what is construed as the ultimatum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, DMK senior and Union Minister for shipping and transport, T R Baalu said the Oct 14 outcome was not a 'deadline'.
It (the deadline/ultimatum) is also not aimed at giving trouble to the Manmohan Singh Ministry, he said for added emphasis in Chennai on Saturday amidst reports that Sri Lanka President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided to be in contact and that External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had been invited to visit Colombo.
Mukherjee has accepted the invitation but indications are that his visit to SL may not materialize immediately.
Baalu, a confidant of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK's senior most Minister in Delhi, made it clear: 'We are not pressurizing the Centre'.
He added: 'We are conveying our problem, our mental agony. Chief Minister M Karunanidhi is expecting some results within that time (14-day deadline)'.
Answering a question on the directive to MPs from TN to quit Parliament, Baalu replied: 'The decision to ask the MPs was not DMK's alone but the decision of parties which had attended the meeting'.
Replying to another question on resignations by DMK MPs and MPs, he was quoted as saying: 'We (DMK lawmakers and workers) are disciplined soldiers of Karunanidhi. His words are like mantras to us. We have only carried out his instructions'.
The 'resignation' letters were handed over to DMK chief M Karunanidhi. And are post-dated to October 29 when the fortnight's deadline to the Centre to halt Sri Lankan troops' offensive against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) expires.
Another DMK senior was quoted in the local media as saying that the party has no intention to bring down the Manmohan Singh government. 'It's not our intention to pull out of the UPA. We did not pass the resolution (at the all - party meet) with that intention. We are not doing anything to help or save the LTTE. We only want to help the orphaned Tamils', the functionary said.
This soft pedaling in a manner of speaking, or U-turn as the DMK critics like to describe, has given ammunition to the AIADMK supremo to target her betenoire.
J Jayalalithaa has dared Karunanidhi to resign as TN Chief Minister if he really cares about the Tamils of Sri Lanka. 'If Karunanidhi really cares about the Tamils he should ask his MLAs to resign. Will he resign as chief minister? Will he have the guts to dissolve the state government', she said, according to TN media reports.
-Asian Tribune-