New Delhi:
The Prime Minister may have been advised by his office to attend a Commonwealth summit in Colombo on November 15, but senior ministers in his government who are from Tamil Nadu want him to skip the session.
Sources close to Finance Minister P Chidambaram say that he is among them. Mr Chidambaram allegedly feels that while the government can send a representative to the conference of leaders of Commonwealth nations, Dr Manmohan Singh should not travel there.
Last month, the Tamil Nadu assembly unanimously adopted a resolution that said India must boycott the session to register its protest against the Sri Lankan government's failure to investigate and punish those who allegedly persecuted the island's ethnic Tamils in the final phase of the civil war that ended in 2009 when the military feared the rebel Tamil Tigers.
Yesterday, M Karunanidhi, the leader of regional party DMK, warned that if the PM travels to Sri Lanka, "his party will have to face the consequences." The DMK quit Dr Singh's coalition in March, accusing it of failing to hold the Sri Lankan government accountable for alleged war crimes against Tamils.
Sources in the government told NDTV yesterday that senior bureaucrats in the PM's office and the Foreign Ministry feel that it's important for the PM to attend the meeting, partly because contact with Sri Lanka's government is important so that India can push for the Tamil cause.
The Prime Minister said recently, "We will consider the sentiments of the Tamil people."