Pillayan plays role of bus driver with camera crew to switch gears

Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, better known as Pillayan, is a man of many parts. He took to arms and fought in the eastern Batticaloa district and its environs as a Tiger guerrilla.

When LTTE’s eastern leader, Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, alias Karuna, decamped, Pillayan followed suit. He took to local politics. From there, he graduated to become a parliamentarian at the last general elections.

At first, he attended sessions whilst in prison custody. Since being acquitted in a case involving the murder of TNA Parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham, he is now free and moves around in the area.

His supporters apparently did not believe that Pillayan could even become a bus driver if the need arose. This is exactly what he did this week.

He was being driven in a luxury Prado vehicle, an entitlement for all MPs together with another choice, Mitsubishi Pajero, Pillayan observed a bus parked on the roadside near the Perillaveli village. He inquired why it had remained parked there. He learned that the bus had remained there for 45 minutes with government workers and schoolchildren on board.

He took to the driver’s seat and drove the bus. The driver who ran to join the bus told him that the road was muddy and he could not proceed. But hero Pillayan did the job.

Of course, his camera crew and photographers were on hand filming and photographing how he maneuvered – single handed as the photograph shows — through muddy terrain. It was on social media. This time, it was not a film from Tamil Nadu but true action of Pillayan, the saviour!