TNA stand-off irks supporters

by P. Krishnaswamy

The stand-off within the TNA over the selection of its chief ministerial candidate ahead of nominations to the Northern PC polls has irked party supporters, a former TNA MP told the Sunday Observer speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Disunity within the five constituent parties on all crucial issues and rivalry over hierarchical issues has been the bane of the TNA and it is likely that TNA sympathisers will decide to support the UPFA at the forthcoming PC polls, he said.

No decision was taken at the TNA coordination meeting on Friday evening at the party head office in Bambalapitiya to select the chief ministerial candidate due to the stand-off and heated exchange of words between party leader R. Sampanthan and the supporters of TNA General Secretary Mavai Senadhirajah MP.

While Samapanthan proposed former Supreme Court Judge Justice C.V. Vigneswaran, the constituent parties insisted that Senadhirajah be nominated as chief ministerial candidate, party sources said.

Sampanthan was reported as saying that Vigneswaran was the right choice because they needed a man of his calibre to guide the Northern PC in the right direction through “proper coordination with the UN and the international community; adequate confrontations with chauvinistic forces and fearlessness in the face of military aggression in the province’. This was considered as sheer poppycock by other leaders of the constituent parties.

They vehemently opposed Sampanthan’s proposal saying it was unfair to bring in a person totally new to politics as the chief ministerial candidate while there are many in the TNA, including veteran Tamil leaders V. Anandasangaree, Mavai Senadhirajah, Sitharthan, Suresh Premachandran and Selvam Adaikkalanathan who had sacrificed much for the cause of the Tamils. The meeting was adjourned for yesterday since no decision was taken until 10 p.m.

The TNA meeting resumed yesterday evening and no final decision on their chief ministerial candidate was taken at the time this edition went to press, TNA sources said.