A day after Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi [Images] stated that he viewed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supremo V Prabhakaran as a 'friend', Sri Lanka [Images] on Monday said that the Tamil Nadu chief minister was trying to exploit the issue for electoral gains.

"Mr Karunanidhi is a Chanakya. He knows what to say and when -- not that he is not aware of Prabhakaran's attitude," Minister for Social Service and Social Welfare Douglas Devananda said.

Karunanidhi had earlier said that he did not 'see' the LTTE [Images] chief as a terrorist but as a 'friend', and would be saddened if he is killed in the ongoing fighting in Sri Lanka.

But the Lankan minister said it was 'shrewd diplomacy' on the part of the DMK leader in the backdrop of elections in India.

"One should know that Prabhakaran has kept nearly 70,000 innocent Tamil civilians as hostage and the LTTE using them as a human shield," Devananda, who is the chairman of the task force for rehabilitation and development of North (Sri Lanka), said.

"Mr Karunanidhi is also considering the election in Tamil Nadu while talking about Prabhakaran," he said.