Tamil parliamentarian M A Sumanthiran said he was against the concept of a proposed Tamil common candidate for next month’s presidential elections and would only consider backing a “main candidate” from the Sinhala South.
The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) lawmaker told reporters in Vavuniya that he was in favour of the devolution of powers based on a unified North-East and would support a southern candidate that backs it.
“This is our political position,” he said at the ITAK office in Vavuniya. “If any of the Presidential candidates agree to the same, they can also be supported.”
The common Tamil candidate idea is a very bad one, because it will make the Tamil cause weak, Sumanthiran said. “This is not an election one can use to send a message on Tamil issues. This is not a referendum on the right of self-determination…,” he said https://t.co/nOvJeNqksa
— M A Sumanthiran (@MASumanthiran) August 8, 2024
However, we have not taken any decision in this regard,” he said, adding that “We are waiting to see who will come up with a political manifesto which reflects the same”.
Sumanthiran’s remarks come in the wake of the announcement of a Tamil candidate endorsed by a range of Tamil political parties and civil society members. The selected candidate, Pakkiyaselvam Ariyanethiran, is a former ITAK MP from the Eastern province.
Sumanthiran has repeatedly spoken out against the move, stating that “We must talk to the main candidate”.
“We have already spoken to two candidates and we will continue with that. We will decide at the end who we will support,” he told The Island earlier this month.
“This is not an election one can use to send a message on Tamil issues. This is not a referendum on the right of self-determination. You must never do that.” he said.
“This is a crazy idea and we have publicly condemned it,” he added.
“In our party discussions, we have mainly focused on the solution to the Tamil National question,” Sumanthiran told reports earlier.
“We have had discussions with President Wickremesinghe since he assumed office on implementing the provisions that are already in the constitutions. He promised do all of that, but nothing has been done so far.”
“We seek meaningful devolution and want to implement things we have agreed in the past time to time.”
Earlier today, Sumanthiran met with India’s High Commissioner Santosh Jha in Colombo, where the pair reportedly discussed “recent political developments in Sri Lanka, including in the North and the East”.
