CHENNAI: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi here and discussed the issue of rehabilitation of Sri Lankan Tamils living in transit camps there.

The meeting came on a day when Karunanidhi wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requesting him to take up the issue with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse during his upcoming visit to India.

After the 15-minute meeting at Karunanidhi’s residence tonight, Chidambaram told reporters that the DMK chief asked him to take up the Sri Lankan Tamils issue with the Prime Minister.

"He (Karunanidhi) has given me some points on the Sri Lankan issue. I will discuss it with the Prime Minister," Chidambaram said.

Earlier in the day, Karunanidhi in his letter to Singh said nearly 80,000 Tamils were still living in transit camps, awaiting rehabilitation measures.

"Those families who have been rehabilitated and settled elsewhere should also be provided with economic development and justice-based reconciliation to work towards a permanent political settlement," he said.

Karunanidhi urged Singh to take up these issues with Rajapakse during the latter’s June 8 visit "as a special agenda and impress upon him the need for earliest rehabilitation measures for Sri Lankan Tamils."

A DMK release tonight said Karunanidhi had asked its Parliamentary Party leader T R Baalu to make arrangements for a meeting of MPs from Tamil Nadu with Rajapakse in New Delhi to take up the rehabilitation issue. (Indian Express)