Rajiv's Secret Tryst With LTTE

Ajith Pillai January 10, 1996 00:00 IST Rajiv's Secret Tryst With LTTE -0001-11-30T00:00:00+05:53

Six months before his assassination on May 20, 1991, Rajiv Gandhi had held a closely-guarded meeting with the top LTTE leadership. The meeting took place at an undisclosed location near Madras at the instance of the late prime minister to dispel any misgivings that the Tigers may have had about India's position vis-a-vis the ethnic strife in Sri Lanka should he return to power. According to sources, intelligence reports on the parleys with the LTTE is what is contained in the file that Union Home Minister S.B. Chavan referred to as information which would "embarrass" the Rajiv Gandhi family. Chavan's observation came in the wake of Sonia Gandhi's public criticism in Amethi last year of the Rao Government's apathy towards the inquiry into her husband's assassination.

According to a top bureaucrat who was briefed by Rajiv Gandhi after his meeting with the Tigers, the former prime minister was aware of the growing concern in the LTTE over the possibility of the Indian armed forces being redeployed in Jaffna should the Congress win in the 1991 general elections. The...