REFUGEE

Dec 10, Colombo: Sri Lanka's Tamil political party, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is reportedly on the verge of splitting into three groups over the issue of which candidate to support at the upcoming presidential elections.

The TNA held its parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday but was unable to reach any consensus as the alliance members were sharply divided over the issue.

According to media reports some of the TNA parliamentarians are in favor of a 'wait and see' approach while some MPs are considering to filed their own candidate.

According to sources, the TELO, one of the constituent parties is mulling to field an independent candidate. TNA Jaffna parliamentarian M.K. Sivajilingam who is a member of TELO recently said he would contest as an independent candidate if TNA does not filed one from the alliance.

Meanwhile, MP Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam of All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) wants the TNA to boycott the election in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. However Ponnambalam is in favor of supporting the New Left Front candidate Dr. Wickramabahu Karunaratna.

The leader of the TNA and Trincomalee district Parliamentarian R. Samapanthan is reportedly in discussions with Mano Ganeshan, the leader of the one-man party Western People's Front to support retired General Sarath Fonseka.

Three other members of the alliance are considering to support the President, Mahinda Rajapaksa at the polls.

The party which currently has 22 seats in the parliament is expected to meet again to take a final decision.