PRESIDENT RAJAPAKSA IS NOT WITHOUT POWERFUL FRIENDS TO WATCH IN TAMIL NADU LIKE MANISHANKAR AIYAR

(By Walter Jayawardhana)
While Dalit Panthers of India (DPI) leader Thirumavalavan, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazagam (MDMK)leader Gopalaswamy Vaiko, and Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader S. Ramados, long time friends of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were rabble rousing against visiting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa he is not without friends from Tamil Nadu
Monday November 27, he is scheduled to be an honored guest of the influential Tamil Nadu Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar's daughter's wedding for which another friend of Aiyar, Pakistani Foreign Secretary Kurshid Mahmud Kasuri has arrived in New Delhi
Both Kasuri and Rajapaksa will meet External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee separately Monday and Tuesday.
Somewhat disheartend , Thirumavalavan, who performed a day's protest fast against Rajapaksa grumbled, "There is no change in the Indian Government's attitude'..'
Vaiko and Ramdoss at the most were able to discourage a couple of mayors presiding over six Tamil Nadu cities from attending the Asian Mayors Conference held at Dehra Dun in Uttaranchal State of India. But that failed to make any impact on the conference where hundreds of mayors from Asia attended and the Sri Lankan President was the Chief Guest. To the South Indian politicians of the three minority parties who were repeating LTTE slogans President Mahinda Rajapaksa reminded that all Sri lankan Tamils were not Tigers and they were definitely not the sole representatives of the island nation's Tamil population. Addressing a press briefing following the conference the Sri Lankan President said an all party conference in Sri Lanka is currently preparing principles of devolution taking lessons from India's devolution of power under its constitution and the Panchayat system.
None of the Tamil politicians could be compared to Union Minister Manishankar Aiyar from Nagapattanam District of Tamil Nadu in influence as far as the Man Mohan government is concerned. He is currently the Union Cabinet Minister of Panchayat Raj , Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports and Development of North Eastern Region.
Part of 'Young Team' Rajiv Gandhi picked for building his new India, Mani Shankar Aiyer is today one of the key advisors to Sonia Gandhi, the President of the governing Congress Party of India.
After Manmohan Singh was sworn in as Prime Minister it was he who famously said in reference to Sonia Gandhi, '"She's the queen, she is appointing a regent to run some of the government's business. But it is she who will be in charge."
A controversial and prolific writer and a product of the Cambridge University where he studied for his Master's degree in economics he is famous for his book 'Remembering Rajiv Gandhi' and the general editor of the four volume Rajiv Gandhi's India. People have described him as a willing slave of Rajiv Gandhi. So, he never pardoned the killers of the illustrious scion of the Nehru dynasty. On April 30 2002 he joined other members of the Lok Sabha by shouting at Vaiko describing him as someone who "represents the murderers of Rajiv Gandhi'' and an "LTTE supporter''.
Vaiko flaunted his pro-LTTE attitude at the moment by saying ' I don't deny that'' and "yes, I am a LTTE supporter''.
Manishankar Aiyar previously held the powerful post of Union Cabinet Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas from May 2004 till February 2006. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) for the third term from Mayiladuturai in Tamil Nadu in May 2004 where he is still popular. Following his first election to the Lok Sabha in 1991, Manishankar Aiyar was a Member and Secretary of the All India Congress Committe (AICC).
Aiyar's political power follows a successful career as a senior Indian diplomat. Having served as Consul General in Karachi, Pakistan Aiyar served as Joint Secretary to the Prime Minister's Office in New Delhi under Rajiv Gandhi (1985-89). He resigned from the Indian Foreign Service in 1989, to take up a career in politics at the invitation of Gandhi . Since then his rise has been described as meteoric. No doubt, he is a politician to watch in South India and Rajapaksa seems to be in good company.
Ever since the Rajiv Gandhi assassination Rajapaksa's foe the LTTE is severely impaired unable to move forward. They failed to hold the hands of anybody else other than Vaiko Gopalaswamy , Thirumavalavan and Ramdos, who could never move beyond parochial Tamil Nadu politics. The terrorist group has no future in India and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) the proxy party of the LTTE knows it best.