DMK indirectly responsible for Rajiv killing: Jayalalithaa

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa accused her opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) of being responsible for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in an ?indirect way?, media reports said on Tuesday.

Responding to a question on the reported remarks of now-disbanded separatist militant organisation LTTE leader Pathmanathan that the DMK’s ideology (of anti-Brahminism) could have influenced the outfit to kill Gandhi, Jayalalithaa made the allegation.

?We have always said DMK was behind the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in an indirect way. That has been our basic charge since a long time,? the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) head told reporters in Chennai.

Congress leader Rajiv Gandhi, whose widow Sonia Gandhi today heads the DMK-allied party, was assassinated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE or Tamil Tigers) group on May 21, 1991 at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu during a poll campaign.

Gandhi, the youngest Prime Minister of India who assumed office at the age of 40, is remembered for modernising India?s telecommunications industry, the education system, expanding science and technology initiatives and improving relations with the United States.

Jayalalithaa, known for her hard stance against the LTTE and responsible for the adoption of a resolution in the Tamil Nadu Assembly during her 1991-96 rule demanding arrest and extradition of slain LTTE founder, V Prabhakaran, said the threats from the outfit were not new to her.

?I have been living with death threats since 1991. This is nothing new,” she said, commenting on Pathmanathan’s claim that his organisation had tried to target her as well.