Chennai: Hitting back at his arch rival AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa for criticising him over the Katchatheevu issue, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Sunday said she had done little to retrieve the islet ceded to Sri Lanka by India though she ruled the state twice.
In a letter to party cadre, the DMK leader also recalled that he had moved a motion in the Assembly in 1974, when the islet was ceded to Sri Lanka by India by way of a bi-lateral agreement, calling for efforts to review the pact.
"However, the Opposition AIADMK did not support the motion and staged a walkout in the Assembly," he said.
Jayalalithaa had on Saturday criticised him for not taking efforts to retrieve the islet despite being in the UPA for last five years.
The Centre had made a "sudden announcement" on ceding Katchatheevu, Karunanidhi said adding he had immediately convened an all-party meeting and wrote to then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi expressing Tamil Nadu's disappointment.
He claimed that Jayallalithaa, in her letter as Chief Minister to then Prime Minister A B Vajpayee in 2003, had said the island should be "leased in perpetuity" so as to enable Indian fishermen enjoy fishing rights and, at the same time, ensure Sri Lanka's "sovereignty over Katchatheevu would be upheld."
He said the AIADMK's noncooperation to the resolution on retrieving Katchatheevu "showed their intention of only opposing the ruling DMK".