Article in SL defence website: Parties one in backing Jayalalithaa

Setting aside their differences, political parties in Tamil Nadu on Friday strongly backed Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa after the Sri Lankan defence website carried an article critical of her, with an accompanying graphic image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Hours after the article was published,it led to political furore accompanied by protests by AIADMK and Tamil outfits in various parts of the state besides NDA allies demanding India severe ties with Colombo even as the piece was later removed from the website.

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The article was titled 'how meaningful are Jayalalithaa's love letters to Narendra Modi?."

The state BJP unit said publishing of such a derogatory article in an official website was not acceptable.

Party's state general secretary Vanathy Srinivasan said that India should summon the Sri Lankan envoy and "convey our feelings."

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"We should strongly condemn it as it was published in an official website of the Sri Lankan government," she told PTI. However, she was not in favour of severing ties with the island nation, as demanded by her party's Tamil Nadu allies, PMK and MDMK.

The DMK also slammed the Sri Lankan government over the episode and demanded an apology. Party spokesperson TKS Elangovan described the article, which mocked Jayalalithaa's writing of letters to Modi on issues involving Sri Lanka, as "cheap".

No matter what the differences were, a Chief Minister cannot be depicted in such manner, he said. PMK founder S Ramadoss said that the article was bad in taste and not only demeaned Jayalalithaa, but also Modi.

On criticism in the article about Jayalalithaa writing letters to Modi on issues relating to Indian fishermen involving Sri Lanka, he said such commentary in an official government site amounted to interfering in the internal affairs of the country.

He alleged that the visit of a BJP delegation led by party leader Subramanian Swamy, perceived to be close to the Sri Lankan administration, to Sri Lanka had emboldened that country to make such remarks.

"The Sri Lankan President (Mahinda Rajapakse) and Defence Secretary should apologise for the article. If the Sri Lankan government declines to do so, India should not hesitate to severe its relations with that country," Ramadoss said.

He said it was not proper to degrade Jayalalithaa, who was not only an elected leader, but also a woman.