‘We Urge The Govt. To Grant The Council The Powers That Are Legitimately Ours’ – Northern Chief Wiggie

September 23, 2013

In a special message to the Sinhalese people, the Northern Province Chief Minister Elect C.V. Wigneswaran called on communities in the South to educate their political leadership about federalism and make them understand that it was not a euphemism for a separate state.

Wigneswaran

Addressing a press conference in Jaffna last afternoon, the newly elected Wigneswaran who received a historic 132,255 preferential votes and topped the TNA list in the Jaffna District, said that it was time for the Sinhalese and the Tamils to live together in peace. “We are citizens of the same country,” he said.

Wigneswaran said that the massive mandate the TNA had received in the Northern Province was a reason for the communities in the south to finally come to terms with the fact that the people of the North have an individuality of their own. He said it was up to the Government to respect the verdict of the Northern Tamils given in Saturday’s election. “We urge the Government to grant the council the powers that are legitimately ours in line with international covenants and agreements,” he told reporters.

VIDEO: WE WILL NOT DO ANYTHING THAT GOES AGAINST THE LAW - VIGNESWARAN

We will do nothing that goes against the law, Tamil National Alliance Chief Ministerial candidate, C.V. Vigneswaran stated after receiving the highest preferential votes in the Jaffna District at the concluded Provincial Council election.

Speaking to journalists in Jaffna, he stated that the party requires the support of the government in order to be able to maintain the Northern Provincial Council.

Vigneswaran, who is set to become the Chief Minister of the region, said that the party however did not have any intention of joining an alliance with the government.

He also assured that the TNA was prepared to take action if the government attempts to exert pressures on land and police powers.

Canagasabapathy Viswalingam Vigneswaran, a retired Supreme Court Judge, obtained the highest preference votes in the Jaffna District of the Northern Province with a total of 132,255 votes. TNA’s Anandi Sridharan, who is the wife of the former LTTE Political Wing Leader in Trincomalee, Elilan, came in second with 87,870 votes while the UPFA’s Kandasamy Kamalendran only managed to secure 13,632 preference votes. 

The Tamil National Alliance, which is registered as Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), won a landslide victory on Sunday in a landmark election in the battle-scarred North, securing 30 out of 38 seats in polls for the provincial council in the former war zone.

The TNA swept all five districts in the election for the Northern Provincial Council, the first for 26 years.