India’s Finance Minister P Chidambaram has hinted at a possible vote against Sri Lanka at a United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) later in March. This comes barely a day after DMK chief M Karunanidhi warned of pulling out his ministers from the Cabinet over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue.

Speaking at a rally in his constituency Sivaganga, Chidambaram said that if Sri Lanka initiates an independent international probe, India would support it. “I’m confident that if phrases in the UN resolution sought credible independent international probe, India would support it,” Mr Chidambaram said.

The minister also sought to assure students who are gearing up to organise massive protests from Monday across Tamil Nadu, demanding affirmative action against Colombo at the UN session. “I’m feeding you my confidence and you feed this confidence to our students,” Mr Chidambaram said.

In 2012, India had supported a similar resolution following pressure from political parties in Tamil Nadu. This time though, the Centre maintains it will decide its position based on the wording of the resolution.

DMK had on Friday threatened to pull out its ministers from the Union Cabinet if its demand to bring in amendments to the US-backed resolution at UNHRC in Geneva was not conceded.

The DMK has been keeping up the pressure on Delhi to vote in favour of the resolution. Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation (TESO), revived by Karunanidhi in 2012, had launched a series of protests, including observing a dawn-to-dusk strike on March 12 to put pressure on the Centre on this issue. The chorus for action against Sri Lanka grew stronger after pictures of slain LTTE chief Prabhakaran’s son’s cold blooded killing appeared in the media.

With Additional Inputs From PTI