Chennai: Expressing anguish at the arrest of 50 Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy yesterday, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the issue with the island nation through diplomatic channels.
In a letter to Modi, the text of which was released to the media here, Jayalalithaa said: “I once again request you to immediately take up the issue of frequent apprehension of our fishermen and their boats by the Sri Lankan Navy at the highest diplomatic levels so as to secure the immediate release of all the 93 fishermen from Tamil Nadu, including the 43 fishermen apprehended earlier and the 62 boats, including the 55 boats impounded earlier, from Sri Lankan custody.”
Jayalalithaa said she was deeply anguished to bring to Modi’s notice the arrest of 50 fishermen from Tamil Nadu by the Sri Lankan Navy.
The fishermen had set out from the Nagapattinam fishing base in Nagapattinam district and were apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy in the early hours of Tuesday and taken to Kankesanthurai in Sri Lanka, she said. Meanwhile, Haryana Power Minister Ajay Singh Yadav yesterday resigned from the Bhupinder Singh Hooda ministry but said he will remain with the Congress party.
Yadav said he had resigned as he was being sidelined in the government. “There are many issues due to which I have taken this step,” he said after submitting his resignation to the chief minister.
Yadav said Hooda refused to accept his resignation. “He told me he won’t accept it and that I should reconsider the decision.
“I have taken a decision... The party high command will decide on my future. I will abide by the high command’s decision,” he said, referring to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Yadav is a senior Congress leader from southern Haryana. He was the minister for power, forests and environment. His resignation, which comes less than before the Haryana assembly elections that are due in October, is likely to leave Hooda and the ruling Congress embarrassed.
IANS
