AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa on Friday accused the DMK leader M Karunanidhi of being instrumental in the handing over of the Katchatheevu islet to Sri Lanka.

Addressing a huge gathering at Aruppukkottai in Virudhunagar district, Jayalalithaa ridiculed the DMK promise of retrieving Katchatheevu, which is featured in the party’s election manifesto. 

Dealing with the subject in elaborate fashion, Jayalalithaa also listed out the efforts she has been taking since 1991 to get back the islet, traditionally used by fishermen of the southern districts.

Karunanidhi, who colluded with the then Congress government at the Centre in making Katchatheevu over to Sri Lanka, was branding the Tamil Nadu fishermen as “greedy persons” for crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line for fishing, she pointed out. Katchatheevu was handed over to Sri Lanka when the DMK was in power in 1974, but Karunanidhi declined to approach the Supreme Court to retrieve the island, Jayalalithaa said.  

Karunanidhi neither used this apex court order to retain the island in 1974 nor supported the AIADMK when she filed a petition in the court in 2008 to retrieve it, Jayalalithaa pointed out.

(With inputs from Deccan Chronicle)