Opp whipped up Lankan Tamils issue to distract voters: Maran

Senior DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran today accused opposition parties of "distracting" the voters' attention with the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, saying they had no strong reason to criticise the UPA at the Centre and DMK government in the state.       

Speaking to reporters here, he said "the opposition parties do not have a strong reason to criticise the ruling governments both at the Centre and in the State. So they are trying to distract people with the Sri Lankan issue."       

"However, people of Tamil Nadu are very clear and their emotions are with the Sri Lankan Tamils and would not get carried away with the opposition parties," he said.       

He said that the DMK-Congress front was the only front to announce their Prime Ministerial candidate while the opposition AIADMK was not sure of it.       

Maran said that his party with Congress would sweep the Lok Sabha polls like it did in the 2004 elections by winning all the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in Puducherry.