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Rajapaksa’s effort for consensus

COLOMBO: The selection of the chief ministerial candidate of the United People’s Freedom Alliance to the newly constituted Eastern Provincial Council has been delayed.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa is in the process of reconciling the conflicting claims of TMVP leader Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan and M.L.A.M. Hizbullah, a former leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC).

According to sources, Mr. Rajapaksa who returned from London on Wednesday has initiated consultations with the stake holders.

“President is keen to ensure that the issue of Chief Ministership should not further Tamil-Muslim division in the province. Such a prospect would not only nullify the very purpose of the election but also prove to be disastrous for the EPC in the long run”, a senior official said.

A suggestion doing the rounds is to rotate the post.

Separately, the military claimed that the LTTE has suffered “heavy losses” in the continuing battles along the Forward Defence Lines (FDLs) in the north.

Tamil United National Front leader V. Anandasangaree said the assassination of EPDP leader Maheshwari Velayutham was yet another act of cowardice by the terrorist group.

“The killing had taken place in her native village Karaveddi where she had gone to see her ailing mother. Maheshwari can be acclaimed as a heroic Tamil woman because as far as I am aware, among the Jaffna Tamils, she is perhaps the only one next to Sarojini Yogeshwaran, to come out openly to do politics at grave risk to her life. Like Sarojini, the ex-Mayor of Jaffna, Maheshwari, was also killed at her residence,” Mr. Anandasangaree said.

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