‘Betraying very people they claim to represent’:

TNA has no moral right to contest polls - Anandasangaree

by P. Krishnaswamy

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) led by R. Sampanthan has no moral right to contest parliamentary elections because they entered the last Parliament fraudulently as LTTE proxies and their political life ended with the elimination of that terrorist outfit, said leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) and veteran Tamil politician V. Anandasangaree.

Anandasangaree told the Sunday Observer that people have forgotten the political history of the TNA in the recent past.

At the April 2004 general elections, 22 of them were elected fraudulently through very large-scale impersonations, intimidation and thuggery, thanks to the now defunct LTTE. They had no moral right either to have been in Parliament all these six years, he said.

In its tradition of safeguarding the democratic rights of the people in the country, the TULF with its 18 members quit Parliament when the then J. R. Jayewardene Government extended the life of Parliament for another six years by holding a referendum.

The TULF has gone on record as the only party to quit Parliament in protest against that undemocratic act of the then Government, Sangaree said. The TNA which had a substantial number of members elected at the April 2004 general elections should have resigned in protest against the undemocratic manner in which the LTTE conducted the elections.

TNA leader Sampanthan or any other TULF breakaway group that joined hands with the LTTE should honour democracy by quitting politics altogether in the wake of the elimination of the terrorist outfit whom they represented, he said.

By continuing in politics without any moral obligations and clear policies for the welfare of the people, the TNA is betraying the very people whom they claim to represent, Sangaree said.