TNA sharply divided over presidential election

DAILY MIRROR 11th Dec 2009

By Kelum Bandara The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) were sharply divided over the presidential election whether to support any of the two main candidates after its second consecutive parliamentary group meeting held yesterday. The TELO, a constituent party of the TNA, mooted the idea of fielding a candidate for the election on behalf of the party. Four TELO MPs namely M.K. Sivajilingam, N. Sri Kantha, Selvam Adaikkalanathan and Vino Noharathalingam and three other TNA MPs supported this proposal. MP Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam who represented the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) proposed that the TNA should boycott the election in the Northern and Eastern Provinces while asking the people in the south to vote for New Left Front candidate Wickramabahu Karunaratne whom the party considers as a person espousing Tamil aspirations. Mr. Ponnambalam’s proposal was backed by two other MPs in the party. Five MPs including leader R. Sampanthan were not in favour of fielding a candidate, and instead adopted a ‘wait and watch’ approach. They highlighted that the party should take a decision accordingly depending on the political developments in terms of the election. A TNA MP who wished to remain anonymous told Daily Mirror that there was one member who wanted to support Opposition Common Candidate Gen. Sarath Fonseka. However, he declined to reveal his name. Seventeen MPs attended the meeting yesterday, held at the parliamentary complex, and a few MPs remained non-committal on the election. Nevertheless, they agreed to stand by the party’s decision in this respect. There was also an idea mooted by one MP to field a TNA parliamentarian as an independent candidate for the election. The party is expected to meet soon to take a final decision. The TNA is an amalgam of four parties. In addition to the TELO and the ALTC, the EPRLF and TULF are the other two parties.