Karunanidhi condemns attack on Rajiv statue

Condemning the attack on former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's statue at suburban Kodungayur, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today said strict action will be taken against those responsible for the "grave crime".

"Those who committed the grave crime will be arrested under the stringent detention law, the Goondas Act. Those, detained under the act, cannot come out on bail for a period of one year," he wrote in DMK's organ 'Murasoli'.

Karunanidhi said he had asked police to take stern action against those who committed the crime without any delay.

The attack on the statue yesterday triggered angry reactions from Congress workers, who staged demonstrations at various places demanding immediate arrest of culprits involved in the act.

Condemning the incident, TNCC President K V Thangkabalu had expressed apprehensions that sympathisers of the banned LTTE could be behind it.

Karunanidhi today said the crime might have been committed by some anti-social elments as "some mischief mongers" wanted to create friction in the relationship between Congress and DMK. "The masks of these persons will be torn soon."

He claimed that yesterday's human chain, organised by DMK to press the Centre to take stern steps to prevail upon the Sri Lankan Government to stop its offensive in the Northern parts of the island nation, was a "great success".

Despite heavy rains, people from all walks of life gathered and formed one of the biggest human chain, he said and thanked all those, who co-operated with the DMK in the agitation.

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