Tamil Nadu Assembly to meet tomorrow under anti-CHOGM cloud

CHENNAI: An emergent session of Tamil Nadu Assembly has been summoned tomorrow amid controversy over India's participation in CHOGM Summit in Colombo.

An official release from the Assembly Secretariat said the session would begin at 6 PM but did not mention any agenda.

It is learnt that the government is holding the session to take a stand on Centre's decision to depute External Affair Minister Salman Khurshid-led delegation to participate in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) at Colombo, ignoring the state's plea for "complete boycott."

The state government, it is learnt, wanted to register its protest to the Centre by adopting another resolution decrying India's participation in CHOGM.

The Assembly had on October 29 passed an unanimous resolution demanding India to "completely boycott" CHOGM and seek suspension of Sri Lanka from the Commonwealth to protest against the alleged war crimes against ethnic Tamils living there.

The government's decision to hold the session in the evening assumes significance in the backdrop of some pro-Eelam outfits giving a dawn-to-dusk bandh call tomorrow to protest India's participation in the CHOGM.

Though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chose to skip the meet starting on November 15, India's participation has drawn flak in Tamil Nadu.