REFUGEE

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which failed to agree on its stand on the forthcoming presidential election despite two meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, is now definitely tilting towards fielding its own candidate, TNA sources said yesterday.
“Chances are very bright for a Tamil candidate,” one TNA source said.
Jaffna District Parliamentarian N. Sri Kantha conceded that out of the 17 TNA MPs who met in Colombo on December 8 and 9, a majority of seven, including himself wanted to field a party candidate, while five were for boycotting the election and the balance five were for backing a candidate after the nominations, depending on who makes the clearest stand on a political solution to the ethnic problem.
Asked whether this tilting towards a Tamil candidate was due to pressure from the Diaspora, he said it was entirely their own decision.

Sri Kantha said three or four names have been mentioned as potential candidate.
“A Tamil candidate will provide an opportunity for Tamil people to express their legitimate political aspirations,” he said.
The veteran lawyer said they hoped to announce their candidate within the next few days as the last day for paying the deposit is next Thursday (17).
TNA Parliamentarian Pathmini Sithamparanathan said neither of the two major candidates had addressed their issues in the past and they were only now talking about making concessions to Tamils.

Sithamparanathan also said that most of their constituents were still not showing any interest in any election as clearly seen in the recent local government elections held in Jaffna and Vavuniya. “They are still in a state of shock. They only want to rebuild their lives at present,” she said.

Already, MP M.K. Sivajilingam has announced in Chennai in the previous week that he would contest as an independent candidate at the presidential election, if the TNA does not field a candidate to oppose both President Rajapaksa and his chief challenger Sarath Fonseka.

Meanwhile, P. Chandrasekaran, Leader of the Upcountry People’s Front, a coalition partner of the government, will meet today President Rajapaksa with his demands, a party source said yesterday.
It is learnt the UNP too has given them an ultimatum to either support their common candidate or to forget any chance of joining a future UNP-led government.