Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K.S. Alagiri on Saturday reiterated that the release of A.G. Perarivalan, one of the seven life convicts in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination case, was unacceptable to his party.
Speaking to reporters at Sathyamurthy Bhavan after paying floral tribute to Rajiv Gandhi’s portrait on his death anniversary, Mr. Alagiri said the apex court had released Perarivalan on legal grounds but had not said he was innocent. He said in his opinion, the court had ruled, taking a wrong angle and it would set a bad precedent.
Asked about the DMK and other alliance partners hailing the verdict, Mr. Alagiri said each party had a different policy. “The stance of the DMK and other alliance partners had always been for the release of Perarivalan, while we were against it. We formed the alliance after being well aware of the stance,” he said.
Mr. Alagiri also criticised Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) chief coordinator Seeman’s remarks on Rajiv Gandhi and said he was not qualified to make any remarks.
Earlier, Mr. Alagiri and other senior party leaders paid tributes at Rajiv Gandhi’s memorial in Sriperumbudur and took an anti terrorism pledge.