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TNA in bid to rescue the alliance, as crisis deepens
View(s):The split within the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has widened following disagreements among alliance partners over chair positions in local councils.
Last week, the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) left the TNA and formed an alliance with the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). The EPRLF has decided to contest the local council polls under the TULF’s rising sun symbol.
EPRLF leader Suresh Premachandran said the TNA did not have any strategy to resolve the Tamil issue. “We can’t work with the Illangai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK),” he said, referring to the most dominant partner in the TNA. Meanwhile, another TNA constituent party, the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), has also voiced reservations about contesting on the TNA or ITAK ticket. TELO Secretary N. Srikantha told the media in Jaffna his party had decided to go it alone.
However, Parliamentarian and TNA spokesperson M.A. Sumanthiran said major issues with the TELO and the Democratic People’s Liberation Front (DPLF), the political wing of PLOTE, had been sorted out and a few remaining issued would be resolved within this week. Mr Sumanthiran said that following talks with TELO Leader Selvam Addaikalanathan and PLOTE leader D. Siddarthan, they had assured him that they would remain in the TNA.
Mr. Siddarthan had earlier said the PLOTE would not contest the local council polls in alliance with the ITAK.
TNA leader R. Sampanthan has said ITAK was ready to be more flexible regarding the demands made by other parties.