Tamil party's support to Sri Lanka's opposition presidential candidate in dispute

COLOMBO: A dispute has been brewing among the leaders of Sri Lanka's main Tamil party over its support to the main opposition challenger Sajith Premadasa in the September 21 presidential election.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on September 1 decided to back Premadasa in the election. The decision was taken at the central committee meeting of Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), the main constituent of the TNA.

However, the party's president, S Sritharan, who was in the UK at the time, said there was no such decision and they would be backing the Tamil common candidate P Ariyanethiran.

Mavai Senathirajah, another party leader, told reporters on Wednesday that a party meeting held in Vauniya, with the participation of 10 executive committee members, decided to hold back the final decision on the matter until September 15.

Senior TNA leader M A Sumanthiran, however, said: “ITAK decision to back Premadasa was final and is not under review”.

The TNA had traditionally backed the main opposition candidates in the previous presidential elections.

In 2019, the TNA backed Premadasa, who was defeated by Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The votes of 2.2 million registered voters from the Tamil regions would be crucial for any front-runner to gain the 50 per cent plus one vote required to be declared the winner.

Other than Premadasa, incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Marxist JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake are the front runners in the election.

Wickremesinghe recently visited Senathirajah in the north. Some of Senathirajah's reported remarks in recent days have indicated his desire to see Wickremesinghe re-elected with Tamil support.