Chidambaram hails TNA victory

September 24, 2013 

Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday said the resounding victory of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in the Sri Lankan Northern Provincial Council election had given it an opportunity to work for a permanent solution based on the 13 amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution and improving upon it.

“I am confident that the TNA will be able to secure maximum autonomy for the provinces, devolution of power to the provinces, equal rights and equal respect for Tamils and other minorities, acknowledgement of the traditional rights of Tamils to their homeland and adequate participation in the governance of the country,” Mr Chidambaram said in a statement.

Wigneswaran stranded in Vavuniya

TUESDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER 2013 

Northern Province Chief Minister elect C.V. Wigneswaran was left stranded for around three hours on Monday night at a Vavuniya fuel station where diesel had been pumped to his vehicle instead of petrol while he was returning to Colombo after a meeting in Jaffna, sources said.

They said the vehicle carrying Mr. Wigneswaran along with MP A. Sumanthiran and Saravana Bhavan and arrived at the fuel station around 9 pm for refueling.

At the fuel station, the vehicle had accidentally been refueled with diesel instead of petrol by an employee. A mechanic had to be called in to rectify the matter after realizing that the wrong fuel was pumped.

However, after repairing the petrol tank of the vehicle, the group had resumed their journey to Colombo past midnight.(Pix and nes by Kapil Nath, SK Prasantha)