The chief ministerial candidate of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), C.V. Wigneswaran, emphasized the TNA will ensure that all powers vested to the Provincial Councils under the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, will be devolved properly to the Northern Provincial Council (NPC).
Wigneswaran was addressing a mega election rally in Mullaitivu on Wednesday (28) attended by thousands of people. It was the first time that an election rally of such grand scale took place in the District. The rally started at 4:30 p.m. and continued for nearly five hours. The event was presided over by Jaffna District Parliamentarian, Mavai Senathiraja.
The TNA’s other candidates, V. Anandasangaree and D. Sitharthan also participated at the rally, along with several other new candidates for the NPC polls.
Wigneswaran said, “The 13th Amendment was brought in following the signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord.
Therefore, the government cannot simply meddle with the Amendment and refuse to grant the powers mentioned it. The NPC election is a democratic battle to win the political rights of the Tamils. So, the voters in the North should think sensibly and ensure that the TNA comes to power with a two-thirds majority in the Council.”
Elaborating further, he said, the NPC will have several challenges to overcome, with regard to land acquisition, resettlement, curtailing of military presence and various other humanitarian problems. “In order to achieve these goals, the people should strengthen the TNA,” he added.
At the beginning of the rally, all the participants observed two minutes’ silence in respect of the people who perished during the last phase of the war in 2009 in the North.