PTI
Chennai, Nov 6(mb): Reacting sharply to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's remark that he condoled the death of LTTE leader S P Tamilselvan in his capacity as a Tamil, AIADMK Supremo Jayalalithaa on Tuesday said she too had Tamil spirit and "Tamil blood is flowing in her veins" as well.
"I know what he meant when he made that remark. He has apparently referred to my birth in Mysore. Though I was born in Mysore, I was born in a Tamil family and Tamil blood is flowing in my veins. My mother tongue is Tamil. When we accept those born in Sri Lanka as Tamils, we should also accept those born in Mysore, which is a part of India, as Tamils," she said in a statement here.
She said Karunanidhi could not justify his 'anti-national' act by making metaphorical remarks. "He can't be condoned for supporting the killers of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi," she added.
Launching a virulent attack on Rajya Sabha MP and Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi for criticizing her on the issue, Jayalalithaa said certain 'mushrooms that had sprouted up overnight' had questioned her Tamil spirit without knowing the fact that she had organised World Tamil Conference to glorfiy Tamil language.
Recalling a press interview she gave during her acting career in 1972 at Mysore where she had gone for the shooting of a Tamil film, she said "when the reporter asked me whether am a Kannadiga, I replied that though I was born in Mysore, I am a Tamil. This raised the hackles of Kannada fanatics who stormed the film studio in large numbers with deadly weapons and demanded an apology from me."