TNA insults Tamils by having Southerner as CM candidate

President tells UPFA rally in Jaffna:

Ranil Wijayapala reporting from Jaffna

The Tamil National Alliance(TNA) which has continuously rejected to have a southern administration in the North, has insulted the Northern Tamils, by having a person from the South as the chief ministerial candidate for the Northern Provincial Council election, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said while addressing an election meeting held in Jaffna yesterday.

He said the TNA has made the biggest blunder in politics and also against their policies by having a person from the South as their Chief Ministerial candidate for the Northern Provincial Council.

President Rajapaksa said the Provincial Council system is a forum for the people to discuss issues relating to the province and the TNA has made the biggest mistake by having a person from the South to discuss matters pertaining to the Northern people as their Chief Ministerial candidate and has insulted the intellect of the Northern people. Six Pradeshiya Sabha Members including some Members from the TNA joined hands with the UPFA at this meeting held in Jaffna.

Wasanthanathan Sivannthan, a TNA member of the Valikamam South Pradeshiya Sabha, Weerasingham Sivakumaran, a TNA Member from the Valikamam West Pradeshiya Sabha, Krishnapillai Selvarajan from the Valikamam East Pradeshiya Sabha, Nallanathan Thiruloganathan an Independent group member and former Pradeshiya Sahba Chairman of the Valikamam West Pradeshiya Sabha, Kanapathi Kathirvalu an Independent Group III candidate and Assaipillai SasheendranValikamam East Pradeshiya Sabha Member joined with UPFA at this meeting held in Jaffna.

President Rajapaksa said the Government which took the initiative to operate the Yal Devi train upto Kilinochchi after 23 years will take steps to operate the Yal Devi train upto Jaffna in April next year, creating a major link between the North and the South.

Addressing a mammoth crowd at the Duraiappa stadium in Jaffna in support of the UPFA candidates contesting the Northern Provincial Council election, President Rajapaksa said that it is a prerequisite to have the administrations the the provincial councils and local government under the control of one political party to have an effective development policy in the country.

He said the TNA was criticising the Government’s development programs saying all the development activities were being done after obtaining loans from China, India and various other countries.

“The TNA has forgotten the fact that we are paying back the loans within the next decade or two”, he said. The President said the vote base of the UPFA is increasing year by year in Jaffna. “We obtained only 45,000 votes from Jaffna in 2005 but it has increased gradually since then”, the President pointed out.

EPDP leader, Minister Douglas Devananda, and several other Ministers including Minister RajithaSenaratne and the UPFA candidates of the Jaffna district participated at the meeting.