Chennai:
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Chennai on Saturday, and before visiting DMK chief M Karunanidhi in hospital, he addressed a press conference.
A pragmatic PM answered questions on his government's stand on Lankan Tamils also reassuring the DMK that the Congress was still with them.
"We are fighting in the company of DMK. It is our ferment hope that this alliance which has stood the test of time in the last five years, remains as we form the government," he said.
The Prime Minister played it safe when asked when he has been hurt by pro-LTTE utterances by Tamil leaders in recent weeks. Chief Minister Karunanidhi had said in an interview to NDTV that the LTTE chief Prabhakaran was not a terrorist.
And the Congress may well be keeping its post-poll options open with the Prime Minister deflecting a question on whether the UPA had ruled out an alliance with Jayalalithaa's AIADMK.
Speaking about the Third Front, the PM said that not many believe that Third Front is a viable arrangement.
When asked about the plight of the Tamils caught in the Lankan war zone, PM said, "We are dealing with a sovereign state in Lanka, and it is not easy to march armies into a sovereign state. We are doing all we can to ensure that Tamils in Sri Lanka can live a life of dignity. Right now our priority is the safety of Tamils in Sri Lanka, others are long-term issues."
Singh also said that media indulging in sensationalism in the Lalu issue. "Too much being read into Railway Minister's absence from Cabinet meeting," he said.