Chennai: Within days of forming the coalition government in Tamil Nadu, the first signs of fissures have emerged amongst the UPA constituents. A day after first-time Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin of the DMK wrote a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind seeking his nod to remit the life sentences of all seven convicts in the former PM Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, ally Congress has lamented the move.

KS Alagiri, the president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, has stated that the judiciary and not politicians should be deciding on the recommendation. He categorically stated that the Congress party does not support the move.

"We don't appreciate it. If the court wants to release an accused, then Congress will accept it. There should be no political pressure," Alagiri said when asked to respond to Stalin's move to urge the President to remit the life sentences of 7 convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. It may be recalled that the then Tamil Nadu government led by AIADMK had recommended in September 2018 to remit the life sentences of the convicts. Stalin in his letter asked the President to issue directions for the immediate release of the convict, contending that they have been 'undergoing the agony of imprisonment for about three decades.

The letter also lists out the names of the convicts - S Nalini, Murugan, Santhan, AG Perarivalan, Jayakumar, Robert Payas, and P Ravichandran. Stalin noted in the letter that the Supreme Court had already commuted the original death sentences of Nalini and three other convicts."The majority of political parties in Tamil Nadu have been requesting the remission of the remainder of their sentences and for the immediate release of all 7 convicts... This is also the will of the people of Tamil Nadu," the letter read. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on the night of May 21, 1991, at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu by a suicide bomber, identified as Dhanu, at a poll rally.