Saturday, 12 October 2013 00:00
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Ananthi takes oaths before Wigneswaran after all
Eight members from TNA constituent parties boycott ceremony
TNA leaders garland statue of Chelvanayakam in Jaffna town
By Dharisha Bastians
Members of the Northern Provincial Council’s ruling party, the Tamil National Alliance took their oaths in Jaffna yesterday before Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran at an elaborate ceremony that was marred only by a boycott of the ceremony by some members of the coalition’s constituent parties.
Ananthi Sasitharan, who previously said she would not take oaths before Chief Minister Wigneswaran following his decision to be sworn in before President Mahinda Rajapaksa, attended the ceremony later than the rest but took her oaths with the other TNA Councillors.
The members of the NPC Board of Ministers, which was finalised on Thursday, were among the councillors who took oaths before the Chief Minister.
Five members of the EPRLF which has six elected members on the Council, two members of PLOTE and one member of TELO boycotted the ceremony and will take their oaths before a Justice of the Peace in due course. All other TNA elected councillors who will run the NPC with more than a two-thirds majority took oaths before the Chief Minister last morning.
The oath-taking ceremony was held at the Weerasingham Hall in Jaffna, with a large crowd including TNA Leader R. Sampanthan, ITAK General Secretary Marvai Senathirajah, Consul General of India in Jaffna V. Mahalingam and Jaffna Bishop Thomas Soundaranayagam in attendance.
Prior to the oath-taking Chief Minister Wigneswaran and Senathirajah garlanded the statue of ITAK Founder Leader S.J.V. Chelvanayakam in Jaffna town. The crowd then walked in procession to the hall for the oath-taking ceremony.
The 38-seat Council will have 30 members from the TNA, including 14 from ITAK, six from EPRLF, five from TELO, two from PLOTE, one from the TULF, and two bonus seats that went to a candidate from Mannar and a defeated female candidate from Mullaitivu.
