In her first volley to the centre after landslide victory, Jayalalitha asks for Lankan Prez Mahinda Rajapaksa to be declared a war criminal for the 'genocide' of Tamils
In her first volley to the centre after landslide victory, Jayalalitha asks for Lankan Prez Mahinda Rajapaksa to be declared a war criminal for the 'genocide' of Tamilsu00a0
Set to form the next government in Tamil Nadu, AIADMK supremo J Jayalalitha yesterday said the Centre should declare Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa a "war criminal" for the "genocide" of Tamils in the island nation. India should come out with economic sanctions against Sri Lanka to compel the government to take steps to mitigate the sufferings of Sri Lankan Tamils and provide them "an honourable and decent life," she told Jaya TV.
Illustration/Satish AcharyaShe said the State Government's role on the Sri Lankan Tamils' issue was limited and it was for the Centre to do something for the betterment of the Tamils. Jayalalitha, whose party led front scored a spectacular victory in the assembly polls, said her first priority would be to restore the state to its prime position in the country.
She said the top agenda for her government would be to restore "law and order" which had "totally
deteriorated". Jayalalitha, set to become chief minister for a third term, said her aim was to implement all her poll promises, including nationalisation of multi-system cable TV operators, within 18 months of assuming office.
'Victory expected'Jayalalitha replied in the affirmative when asked whether she expected the landslide victory. She said she could gauge the mood of the people and that was why she had been maintaining that her party would get a landslide victory and ignored predictions by poll surveys, the AIADMK leader said. "The people were waiting for an appropriate moment to vent their anger. They have done it now," she said. Jayalalitha thanked the people for voting her party to power and the Election Commission for conducting free and transparent polls in the state.
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She said the state had been pushed into a debt trap with a borrowing of Rs one lakh crore. "The state's treasury is empty and I have to start fromu00a0 scratch. Restructuring a house is an easier job but building a house is a tough task. We are entrusted with such a tough task," she said. Jayalalitha said people were "totally disgusted" with the DMK Government and were waiting for the election day to show their "anger and resentment".
"Over the last three years, wherever I went I could read the feelings of the people, I could sense that the people were waiting for a chance to throw out the DMK government and bring in theu00a0 AIADMK government", she said.u00a0u00a0Stating that her party's priority was to rebuild the state, she said, over the past five years, Tamil Nadu has been totally ruined. "It's economy has been ruined," she said.
CPI hails Amma's victoryCongratulating Jayalalitha on her spectacular comeback, the Communist Party of India (CPI) hailed it as a "great victory" and said various issues like corruption worked against the ruling DMK-Congress combine. Party National Secretary D Raja said, "It is a great victory. It is a huge defeat of the DMK and Congress perceived as a combine of corruption. People showed their resentment against the DMK through ballot," he said.
