India’s policy on Sri Lanka in the late 1980s was held hostage to the rivalry between two Dravidian parties — DMK and AIADMK — and one of the biggest blunders the country did was to allow V Prabhakaran to stay in Tamil Nadu, former diplomat G Parthasarathy has said.
Parthasarathy, who was a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs in 1987, said in October 1987 the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M G Ramachandran came to a conclusion that Prabhakaran cannot achieve anything and left the next move on the Sri Lankan issue to the Centre.
"Our policy became a hostage to the rivalry between (Chief Minister) M Karunanidhi and MGR. Karunanidhi supported Siri Sabarathinam, who was also a Sri Lankan Tamil leader.
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