EPRLF rejects tna Will not accept its leadership Announces new coalition backed by TPC

The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK), the main constituent in the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), has called for extensive discussions at regional level, in the North and East, on the Interim Report of the Constitutional Assembly. However, the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), one of the four constituent parties in the TNA, has announced that it cannot function in coordination with the TNA anymore and would also not accept the ITAK’s party symbol, the house, as the common symbol of the TNA.

The ITAK’s Central Committee meeting was held in Vavuniya yesterday with the participation of the members from the Northern and Eastern Provinces. The TNA’s Jaffna District Parliamentarian and TNA spokesman M. A. Sumanthiran told Ceylon Today, that the ITAK held its central committee meeting in Vavuniya yesterday, presided over by the party leader and Parliamentarian Mavai S. Senathiraja.

Sumanthiran said that it was decided by the Central Committee to have extensive discussions at grass root level on the Interim Report of the Constitutional Assembly.

The meetings, throughout the Northern and Eastern Provinces between the ITAK members and local bodies, led by the party, will commence on 20 November and continue for a week during which the pros and cons on the Interim Report will be discussed to have a clear picture on the intended new Constitution, according to Sumanthiran.

He also said that there was adverse propaganda being carried out on the ITAK’s stance with regard to the Interim Report of the Constitutional Assembly, whereas the ITAK was open for discussion on the Interim Report, which was after all not a final draft as such, he said.

Sumanthiran also said that during the ITAK meeting in the presence of the Leader of the Opposition and the TNA R. Sampanthan, views were also expressed on the Budget-2018 presented in Parliament.

“Several proposals made by the TNA on the livelihood assistance to the ex –LTTE cadres had been taken into consideration in the Budget. In the meantime the allocation of Rs 1,400 million for the functions of the Office of the Missing Person (OMP) was also praiseworthy” Sumanthiran said.

Meanwhile, the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) Leader Suresh K. Premachandran announced, at a press briefing in Jaffna yesterday, that his party was not prepared to join a coalition led by ITAK and will also not accept the ITAK symbol, house, as the common symbol of the TNA.

At the yesterday’s press briefing the EPRLF Leader Suresh K. Premachandran also announced the forming of a new coalition in the Tamil political scene with the backing of the Tamil People’s Council (TPC).

Premachandran slammed the TNA leadership claiming that there was no democracy in the alliance and the EPRLF was not in a position to accept the decisions taken by the TNA.

Premachandran also announced that the EPRLF was not satisfied with the Interim Report on the Constitutional Assembly and was of the view that the ITAK failed to play a role in bringing out the new Constitution fullfilling the political aspirations of Tamils.