New Delhi:
The Centre's fire-fighter External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has defused the Tamil crisis and made peace with Karunanidhi over the civil war in Sri Lanka.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief M K Karunanidhi had threatened to withdraw the support of all 16 of his MPs to the central government.
Mukherjee's unscheduled visit was preceded by political intervention at the highest level--a call from Sonia Gandhi to Karunanidhi.
The crisis was over the targeting of ethnic Tamils in the Sri Lanka civil war, an issue taken up by the DMK.
",The External Affairs Minister requested me not to complicate things and cause any pain for the Centre. I have assured him that I will not,", said Karunanidhi.
",There is no change to the government in this crisis,", said Mukherjee.
Hours earlier in Delhi, Mukherjee had met Basil Rajpakse, the Lankan President's brother and senior advisor.
",We will look after the humanitarian needs and everything else that we can,", said Basil Rajapaksa.
Almost on cue, news came of the LTTE chief Prabhakaran's demand that India help the Sri Lankan Tamils by lifting the ban on the LTTE.
But New Delhi has always maintained that there's no chance of de-recognising it as a terrorist organisation.