Vasan slams Lankan envoy on Commonwealth meet remarks

CHENNAI: Union shipping minister G K Vasan on Friday took exception to Sri Lankan High Commissioner Prasad Kariyawamsam's reported remarks that countries which did not participate in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) scheduled in Colombo next month would get isolated.

In the context of the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly's unanimous resolution on Thursday calling for India's boycott of CHOGM, Kariyawamsam had told reporters, "Isolation will happen to those who do not participate."

Speaking on the sidelines of the three-day Bharat Nirman Public Information Campaign in Chennai, Vasan told TOI when the Congress-led UPA government was yet to make known its decision on the participation, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner had prematurely gone to the press. "This is very unfortunate," he said.

Many Congress leaders from the state are joining the chorus of demands for India's boycott of CHOGM, even while the party leadership is yet to make up its mind. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had reportedly hinted to DMK that he would consider the sentiments of the Tamils before taking a decision regarding participation.