Secretary of the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, has met former LTTE media head, V. Dayanithy alias Daya Master and 23 others in Jaffna over the Northern Provincial Council polls to be held later this year, informed sources said.
The meeting was held on Monday at the 52 Division Headquarters in Varani, where the Defence Secretary had a detailed discussion over the Northern Provincial polls and also on the possibilities of spearheading the political and the development activities through a possible UPFA-led Provincial Council, sources said. The meeting had also focused on the candidatures for the Northern Provincial polls where Rajapaksa had outlined that by contesting alone, the UPFA could work out its own strategies towards the development activities in the North, sources added.
The UPFA is planning to field several new faces at the Provincial polls, sources explained.
Meanwhile, informed sources said Daya Master is most likely to contest the polls under the UPFA.
The UPFA’s coalition partner, Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), which had earlier contested in the parliamentary polls under the betel symbol of the UPFA, has still not taken any decision on aligning with the UPFA in the provincial polls, sources said.
In the meantime, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has also embarked on working out its provincial polls strategy, despite the differences over registering the TNA as a political party.
The old guards in the TNA, including its leader R. Sampanthan and Mavai Senathiraja are not for registering the TNA as a political party and they prioritize the main constituent party, Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), instead of the TNA, sources said.
By Ananth Palakidnar/CT