The claim by a prominent lawmaker of a key Tamil party in the North and East of Sri Lanka to support one of the leading contenders in the presidential race, has been trashed by the party leadership.
ITAK's top policy making body which met in Vavuniya on Sunday (01) passed a “unanimous” resolution to support Sajith Premadasa, parliamentarian M. A. Sumanthiran told journalists after the meeting in the northern town of Vavuniya.
“Three resolutions were passed in the meeting after five hours of deliberations. The first one is not to support Pakkiaselvam Ariyanethran, ‘the common Tamil candidate’, the second is asking him to withdraw from the contest as he is a member of the party, and the third ‘without a division’ it was decided to support Sajith Premadasa”.
However, this claim or decision of the policy making body has been dismissed by ITAK President Mavai Senathiraja. Speaking to the media, he said “the decision taken at the Vavuniya meeting was the personal decision of some people and not the official decision of the ITAK”.
Senathiraja further commented that senior leaders of the party including himself, leader elect Sivagnanam Shritharan, Charles Nirmalanathan, Seenitamby Yogeswaran and Gnanamuthu Srinesan did not attend the meeting.
The ITAK's senior vice president, CVK Sivagnanam, presided over the central committee meeting. He told local media that although the resolution was adopted, the vote was divided.
“The decision to support Sajith Premadasa was taken at the meeting which was held according to the constitution of the party. A total of 27 persons were present among the 39 members of the committee which includes Ariyanethran also. Senathiraja had informed that he could not participate in the meeting as he is unwell. He also had not sought the postponement of the meeting for any other reason.
At the same time, Sivagnanam Shritharan has informed his choice in writing. At the meeting, 17 members said they could not support the common candidate Ariyanethran while 6 expressed support in his favour. A total of 22 persons spoke at the meeting. Finally, three resolutions including extending support to Sajith Premadasa were passed."
Jaffna District MP Shritharan is in London seeking support from the diaspora for the north and east Tamil candidate Ariyanethran.
Speaking at a meeting of the Tamil diaspora in London Siritharan described the idea of a ‘common candidate’ as a tribute to the war dead and seeking justice for the Tamils. “Now Sajith says he will implement the 13th Amendment. But when Ranil Wickremesinghe, Maithripala Sirisena and Sajith Premeadasa were in power they were not prepared to share power. Sajith even did not come to the North and East to thank the Tamil voters when we supported him in the last Presidential election”
Shritharan also made it clear that there was no external pressure regarding candidates while speaking at the same meeting on Saturday (31).
“There was no pressure either from India or any other country saying, ‘Don’t put this candidate or support that candidate. The reports regarding such things are purely speculative and nothing as such happened any time or during the discussion with the Indian National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval in Colombo, just before I left for London," he added.
However, the Colombo based Sunday Times in its edition on 01 September claimed Ajit Doval as saying the Tamil political leaders who met him to avoid wasting votes. “He told them they should not “waste the votes of the Tamil people” and try to negotiate with a candidate who could win and secure the aspirations of the Tamil people through talks”.
The paper also said the General Secretary of the Tamil National People’s Front, Selvarasa Kajendran explained to the Indian NSA their reason for calling upon the Tamil people to boycott the presidential election. “While MPs made representations on the situation on the ground, Mr. Kajendran explained in detail why his party was campaigning for a boycott but indicated his party would consider supporting any candidate who was willing to devolve powers to provinces within a federal structure”.
Meanwhile, Sajith Premadasa has immediately thanked the ITAK for their support to him in a post on his X platform.
“Thank you for your support ITAK @MASumanthiran. Together, we’ll create a future where everyone wins-a future with no racism, no discrimination and a future built on unity, strength, and shared purpose”.
His message was cautious not to mention two key demands of Tamils; power sharing based on a federal constitution and accountability for alleged war crimes.
With the majority southern Sinhala electorate split among at least three leading candidates, the 1.2 million voters in the Tamil speaking north and the east evidently hold the key to ushering Sri Lanka’s next president to office.
