President says Jaya's remarks on Tamil Eelam, a poll ploy

President Maithripala Sirisena has termed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s statement on Tamil Eelam as an election ploy, the Hindu reported.

In his interaction with the heads of the local media organisations on Wednesday, Mr. Sirisena, responding to a query, said generally, politicians were known for making a number of statements during elections. One did not have to get exercised about such observations.

Last week during an election rally in Tiruchi, Ms. Jayalalithaa had said that she would continue to work for ushering in a separate Tamil Eelam

In a chat with The Hindu, an aide to the President explained that Mr. Sirisena had all along been advocating that it was for people in southern parts of Sri Lanka [meaning Sinhalese] to feel first the need for reconciliation as people in the northern and eastern parts of the country had suffered heavily during the civil war. Mr. Sirisena’s response was a message to politicians in the southern Sri Lanka not to try to reap political dividends by raising Ms. Jayalalithaa’s statement, the aide said.

To another question on the Northern Provincial Council’s resolution seeking federalism, the President responded that anybody could pass any resolution, but his government would never allow Sri Lanka to be divided or bifurcated or allow any harm to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.