Internal differences within TNA: ITAK Leader Lashes Out At Wigneswaran

Inspite its election victory and the appointment of its leader R. Sampanthan as Opposition Leader in Parliament, divisions within the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) have started to resurface once again.

The most recent development indicating serious clash of opinions occurred recently in Vavuniya when the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi leader Mavai Senathirajah lashed out at Northern Province Council Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran.

Addressing an event held to welcome TNA MPs elected from the Vanni District, Senathirajah criticized Wigneswaran’s demand for an international investigation into the alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka, pointing out that the UNHRC has already done an international inquiry. Senathirajah asked as to why an investigation is demanded when it has already been carried out.

Meanwhile, Wigneswaran’s decision to remain neutral in the recent general election was also severely criticized.
At that time, there were reports that Wigneswaran was getting closer to the more radical Tamil political groups such as the All Ceylon Tamil Congress led by Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam. However, speaking to Asian Mirror during the election period, TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran said that there was no division in the TNA and Wigneswaran wanted to keep out of the competition between different candidates, which is a natural result of the preferential system.
Ponnambalam’s ACTC failed to win any seats in the general election.

Divisions within the TNA surfaced immediately after the election when former Media Spokesperson and leader of the EPRLF Suresh Premachandran criticized the appointment of two national list MPs from among the ITAK members, without consulting other parties in the TNA.

There was also some friction between Senathirajah and Wigneswaran from the Northern Provincial Council election period in 2013. Senathirajah was widely believed to be the candidate for Chief Minister but the TNA could not arrive at a consensus. Meanwhile, Wigneswaran, a former Supreme Court judge, entered politics as the CM candidate. Senathirajah was elected the leader of ITAK later.