Drop Tamil Eelam agenda: Chidambaram to Karunanidhi

CHENNAI: Union home minister P Chidambaram on Sunday reportedly conveyed to DMK chief M Karunanidhi the central government's displeasure over a move by the ally to pass aresolution to demand Tamil Eelam at a meeting of the Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation (TESO) in Chennai on August 12.

The TESO, which comprises supporters of Eelam (separate Tamil land in Sri Lanka) and was revived by Karunanidhi after three decades, is seen as a political strategy to boost the flagging morale of his party, which lost the 2011 assembly polls, as well as to reiterate his importance as a Tamil leader. But such a meeting, to be organised by a key ally of the UPA government, could prove a huge embarrassment for India, whose stated international policy is for cordial ties with Sri Lanka. The nearly half-anhour discussion between Chidambaram and Karunanidhi took place at the DMK chief's CIT Colony residence in Chennai on Sunday.