A Wanni district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Member of Parliament is set to join the government, marking the first defection from the TNA, government sources said.
The member, Sivanathan Kishore, abstained from voting against the extension of the state of emergency in Parliament though seven other members voted against it.
Mr Kishore contacted by The Sunday Times said it was ‘premature to comment’, but did not rule out the possibility of contesting the Parliamentary elections on the SLFP or UPFA ticket.
The move comes amidst several overtures by the government to TNA members and other Tamil parties to join the government or the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).
The Sunday Times learns that the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) also has been under pressure to contest the upcoming local elections in Jaffna and Vavuniya with the government and the party is now likely to accept the offer, though it rejected the proposal earlier. However, EPDP leader Douglas Devananda said a decision would be taken within two days on whether to contest on the EPDP ticket or go with the SLFP.
Meanwhile, two Batticaloa Municipal Council members who were with the TMVP led by Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan yesterday crossed over to the SLFP. They were Wellington Rajendra Prasad and Namasivayam Krishnanandan.
Earlier in the week Batticaloa Mayor Sivageetha Prabhakaran, also a TMVP member, joined the SLFP. |
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