The ruling Congress party in India has said that AIDMK leader J. Jayalalitha is speaking "nonsense" over the meeting between Priyanka Gandhi and LTTE suspect Nalini who is a convict in the killing of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Jayalalitha had earlier said that it was only after that meeting between Priyanka Gandhi and Nalini that Sri Lanka intensified attacks on Tamils. She also demanded that the details of what transpired during the meeting be made public and sought an explanation from her rival, DMK chief M Karunanidhi.

Infuriated by the AIADMK leader’s comments, Congress retaliated and said the meeting was a personal one. "I think Jayalalithaa should apply to the World Intellectual Property Rights Organisation and take patent for the nonsense she had spoken," party leader Mani Shankar Aiyar told a television channel on Sunday. He said Ms Priyanka Gandhi’s visit to the prison was to meet Nalini on personal grounds.

In Chennai, the Congress leadership is displaying solidarity with its ally, DMK. The party has even toned down its stand on LTTE to narrow down differences on the issue with the DMK leader, who even went to the extent of describing Prabhakaran as a friend. With Sri Lanka taking centre stage in Tamil Nadu’s politics, Congress has turned a deaf ear to the utterances of Mr Karunanidhi. The chief minister backed the Tamils’ Eelam demand within days of his rival Jayalalithaa making similar statements which provoked the Congress to describe it as "anti-national".

With the Congress going all out to back its ally in the state, the AIADMK chief, too, has reaffirmed her pre-poll commitment to PMK, MDMK and Left. "As of now, we are in alliance with PMK, MDMK and others. There is no question of bypassing alliance partners and having secret talks with anyone else," she said.

Meanwhile, BJP is in tune with the AIADMK on the Lankan issue. BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L K Advani has blamed the policies followed by the UPA government for the Sri Lankan crisis and the suffering of Tamils in that country. Though the Left is exuding confidence of Ms Jayalalithaa’s loyalty to the third alternative, both the Congress and BJP have indicated that doors were open for her in a post-poll scenario.