Sivajilingam takes on MR

Contests Kurunegala District to protest against injustice to Tamils:

by P. Krishnaswamy

Maverick Tamil National Alliance (TNA) member, M. K. Sivajilingam, will be contesting the August 17 polls from the Kurunegala District, directly challenging former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is also contesting from the same district.

A leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO),

one of the constituents of the TNA, and kin of slain LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, Sivajilingam told the Sunday Observer he is contesting from the Kurunegala District as a protest against injustices perpetrated on the Tamils.

Well aware that with a less than two percent Tamil population there is no likelihood of him winning a seat, Sivajilingam said contesting from the Kurunegala, the district from where the former president is contesting, is the most appropriate gesture to show his protest on behalf of his people. Sivajilingam, who hails from Velvettithurai, and has represented the Jaffna District in Parliament on two occasions, is presently the TNA member of the Northern Provincial Council.

He was reprimanded by fellow Councillors at last Thursday's sessions for not taking leave from the PC before submitting nominations to contest the August 17 polls.

Often controversial in his actions, he has been accused of receiving huge amounts of money from the former president to scatter the Tamil votes, both in the 2010 presidential elections and the upcoming polls. Denying the accusations, Sivajilingam said it was up to the people to decide whether he could have had any links with Rajapaksa in the context of what he had done and said against the former president.

Sivajilingam has openly said that both Rajapaksa and Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, the former Army Commander should be tried at the International Criminal Court and punished for war crimes.