SLFP condemns NP Chief Minister’s campaign, says need to rethink powers to provinces in new constitu

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) yesterday strongly condemning the ‘Eluga Thamil’ campaign launched by the Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran and said his action warrants reconsideration of powers that should be devolved to the provinces in the new constitution.

Addressing a media conference held at the party headquarters today, the Senior Vice President of the SLFP, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said the proposed new Constitution should include the type of actions to be taken against Chief Ministers such as Wigneswaran.

The Minister asked the Chief Minister to withdraw the statements made by him and called on the main Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to take disciplinary action regarding his conduct.

He said while the government of President Maithripala Sirisena is working tirelessly to achieve national reconciliation among the communities in the North and South, it is regrettable that the Chief Minister, a former supreme court judge, is making such statements to inflame the extremists in the North demanding a separate state and attempting to create a fear psychosis among the people in the South about the resurgence of LTTE separatism in the country.

The Minister explained that the statements made by Wigneswaran in his post as the Chief Minister carry weight and therefore his statements made for cheap political publicity give fuel to the extremists in both North and South. “He must not make these kind of remarks for chief political gain. The government will not tolerate such extremist actions,” the Minister said.

Minister de Silva stressed that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party will never allow anyone to bring about extremism again or bring in a Federal Constitution and attempts to divide the country.

Speaking to media, Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said that the Northern Chief Minister made such a statement to achieve petty political gains therefore such statements should be ignored.