M A I N   N E W S

Tamil Nadu to slap POTA on Union minister

Chennai, September 22
In the first action of its kind, the Tamil Nadu Government today decided to slap POTA against Union minister and MDMK treasurer M Kannappan for his alleged open support to the banned LTTE and demanded he be sacked from the Union Ministry.

The action comes on top of the arrest and detention of MDMK chief Vaiko for more than a year now under POTA on the same charge.

This may be the first time that a state government plans to arrest a Central Minister on a serious charge.

In a five-page letter to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa termed Mr Kannappan’s conduct as “anti-national” and said his open support to the LTTE had rendered him ineligible to continue in office as a Union Minister.

Declaring her intentions not to wait indefinitely for Mr Vajpayee to take action against the minister, she warned that in the event of the Prime Minister not taking action due to “compelling political reasons” the state government would be constrained to take action.

She said Mr Kannappan, by supporting the LTTE, had committed an offence under Section 21(1)(2) of POTA and violated the oath while taking office. Mr Kannappan was continuously offending the mandatory provisions of POTA and the state could not wait endlessly without taking action against him, she said.

Ms Jayalalithaa said “no law prevents a Central Minister from being arrested by the state government in public interest and public discipline if he or she indulges in activities against the law of the land and prosecution can be initiated by the state government”.

She pointed out that at a book release function on September 16, Mr Kannappan had openly declared his party’s allegiance to the LTTE. He had also said that MDMK general secretary and POTA detenu Vaiko was right in supporting the banned organisation.

Mr Kannappan will be the second top MDMK functionary to face charges under POTA after party chief Vaiko, who was arrested along with eight others in July last year for their speeches supporting the LTTE at a public meeting at Tirumangalam near Madurai in June last year.

Mr Kannappan had stated that he would support any organisation, which stood for the cause of Sri Lankan Tamils and that the LTTE protected the island Tamils. He had also said he was not bothered about the consequences of supporting the LTTE. — PTI