CHENNAI: In what is seen as a triumph for Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, her demand that the Centre consult the Tamil Nadu Government before allowing VIPs from Sri Lanka to visit the State was acceded to by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.In his reply to the Chief Minister’s letter dated March 11, the Prime Minister assured her that in future authorities would share information of Sri Lankan VIPs visiting Tamil Nadu with the State government in advance. “I am asking our authorities to bear your views in mind when they handle such visits in future and to share such information as they may have about such visits with the Government of Tamil Nadu beforehand,” the Prime Minister said.Jayalalithaa, in her letter to the Prime Minister, had pointed out that frequent visits of Lankan officials, army officers and VIPs without informing the State government had caused difficulties in ensuring security for them.Indicating that the Sri Lankan government’s failure to ensure rights of local Tamils had caused worries among the people of TN, Jayalalithaa referred to an incident that took place at Rameswaram and said that it should be viewed in this background.The State government was unable to take any precautionary security measures when Thirukumaran Nadesan, brother-in-law of the Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapakse, visited Rameswaram on January 9 and 10 since there was no information either from the Lankan Government or the Centre.
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