On a day when BJP leader and former Union Minister Subramanian Swamy wanted the Prime Minister to announce his participation in the Commonwealth meeting in Colombo, the State unit of the party stuck to its stand that India should not send any representative to the meet as demanded in the resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
In a statement, Swamy wanted PM to announce a decision to attend the CHOGM in the best interests of the nation. However, the state unit of the party was not amused by the call and decided to stick to its stand that India boycott the meet.
Speaking to Express over the phone, state BJP president Pon Radhakrishnan said there was no question of changing the party’s stand on the issue that Tamil Nadu’s sentiments had to be respected by the PM while taking a call on the issue.
“The Assembly has passed a unanimous resolution demanding a boycott. TN BJP has made this demand consistently. There is no change in our stand,” he said.
On the statement made by Swamy, Radhakrishnan said he was hopeful that the national leadership will respect the sentiments of the State unit. “I am sure the national leadership will support our stand on the issue,” he said.
Another senior state leader, H Raja, said that he was not inclined to make a comment on “opinions of individual leaders.” The Prime Minister’s attendance in the meet was immaterial as Sri Lanka has already gained a victory by ensuring that the meeting took place in Colombo. “BJP always demanded that India should take steps to move the meet out of Sri Lanka. The Centre failed on this front. Rajapaksha has already won,” he pointed out. However, he said the State BJP will continue to demand a boycott.
Meanwhile, CPI leader D Raja, speaking to reporters on Monday, asserted that the Centre cannot ignore the resolution passed in the Tamil Nadu Assembly which demanded boycott of the CHOGM meet.
“Prime Minister has to spell out the position of the Government. The Central Government cannot ignore this unanimous resolution. If that is the sense of the Tamil Nadu assembly, Prime Minister will have to respect that,” he pointed out.