Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C.V. Wigneswaran and the Northern Provincial Councillors boycotted a visit by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to Jaffna yesterday, following an exchange of views over the military presence in the North and the views expressed by the PM in an interview with an Indian TV station.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, State Ministers Rosy Senanayake, Vijayakala Maheswaran and V. Radhakrishnan are on a three-day visit to the North, beginning yesterday.
Minister Maheswaran said Chief Minister Wigneswaran and the NPC Councillors should not have snubbed Wickremesinghe as the purpose of the visit was to address the humanitarian issues in the North.
NPC sources said the invitation sent to the Council on the Prime Minister’s visit was “not properly delivered”.
However, the sources closer to the Chief Minister said the ‘cold war’ between Wigneswaran and Wickremesinghe emerged following an exchange of views over the military presence in the North and the views expressed by the PM in an interview with an Indian TV station in which he had said the Chief Minister was not being supportive of the Central Government.
EPDP Leader, Douglas Devananda, MP, accompanied the Prime Minister.
Wickremesinghe will be visiting the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu Districts today to attend various meetings and is expected to launch several humanitarian programmes. He is also expected to meet several TNA parliamentarians representing the Northern Province in Kilinochchi.
By Ananth Palakidnar/ CT