Even as Sri Lanka and some members of the international community tout the 13th amendment and the provincial council system as a viable method to devolve power to Tamils, Chief Minister of the newly formed Eastern Provincial Council and Rajapakse ally Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan has announced that the Eastern provincial Council is powerless.
"I don’t have any powers to implement the 13th Amendment. We have asked the central government to give us the powers vested in the 13th Amendment," Pillayan told the Sunday times newspaper in
Pillayan added that since he took office in May this year not a single person has been recruited to the Council and lamented that only a few cabinet ministers in the district are directly involved in the ongoing development projects in the province.
“Only a few cabinet ministers in the district are directly involved in these projects. This is not what we need at the moment. We first need freedom of movement to travel within the district and outside.”
Pillayan also accused Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna, the leader of his party, Tamil People's Liberation Tigers (TMVP) of convincing the government not to give powers to him.
“We have asked the central government to give us the powers vested in the 13th Amendment, but Karuna who is with the government is now convincing the government not to give powers to me.”
