New Delhi: In a move aimed at taking the wind out of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s sails, the United Progressive Alliance government at the centre has managed to persuade its ally in Tamil Nadu, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, to consider a possible realignment of the controversial Sethu Samudram project.

The change in the DMK’s stand comes as a big relief to the UPA leadership that has been wary of providing the BJP with yet another emotive issue in an election year.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has reportedly emphasised that the combine should not be seen as being opposed to lord Rama.

Over the last two weeks, UPA leaders have been meeting behind closed doors to come up with a solution acceptable to the DMK and by Thursday a breakthrough was in sight.

This development comes on a day when Coast Guard chief Vice Admiral RF Contractor said the channel could pose new security challenges.

“The maritime area is common by virtue of the close boundary lines between Sri Lanka and us, so obviously the implications are more there,” Contractor said.

The Coast Guard chief ’s comments come a few weeks after the Navy raised similar concerns. Both the forces have pointed out that a host of scenarios are possible.

Among them, terrorist threat, poaching, non-state actors using the canal to infiltrate. The Navy has painted the possibility of a ship being sunk in the canal to disrupt the entire traffic.

Source : DNA