By IANS,
New Delhi : DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran said Saturday that the victory of his party in the Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu showed that the Sri Lankan issue had failed to sway voters in the state.
As the DMK proved pollsters wrong with a strong performance in a majority of Tamil Nadu’s 39 Lok Sabha seats, Maran told NDTV TV: “People (of Tamil Nadu) have given a clear mandate.”
Asked if the emotive issue of Sri Lanka’s military offensive against the Tamil Tigers had played a role in balloting, as many had expected, he said: “That has not played a role.”
AIADMK leader J. Jayalalithaa and her allies in the MDMK and PMK had taken an aggressive line in Tamil Nadu during the election campaign blaming the Sri Lankan and Indian governments for the suffering of Tamil civilians in the island nation.
Jayalalithaa threatened to send the Indian Army to Sri Lanka to carve out a Tamil Eelam state if her coalition won most seats in Tamil Nadu and if she ended up playing a key role in government formation in New Delhi.