ITAK divided: Sampanthan won't contest general election

The 86- year old one time Opposition Leader, Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, a political veteran who first entered Parliament in 1977, will not contest the forthcoming general election which will be first time in recent years that the Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) goes to the polls divided.

Mr Sampanthan was not present on Friday for the Parliamentary Group meeting of ITAK, Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation ( TELO), and Democratic People’s Liberation Front (DPLF, formerly People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam) where they discussed how to face the election.

The ITAK and its coalition partners have decided they will also contest this time in the South, in Gampaha and the Colombo Districts, outside of the North and East. The parties discussed how many candidates each would get to field in each district. But some differences emerged, when the others turned down a request by TELO leader Selvam Adaikalanathan to field an Indian Origin Tamil nominee in the Vanni District.

A TELO demand for five candidates from the Vanni was also rejected as was the suggestion that the alliance increases the number of women it fields at the upcoming general election. The ITAK has just one female MP from Mullaitivu, Shanthi Sriskandaraja, who entered Parliament on the National List. The party said it could decide on this after the election, based on the bonus seats it would get.

The DPLF said it wanted to field two candidates--one each from the Batticaloa and Ampara Districts, its leader Dharmalingam Siddharthan told the Sunday Times. Another discussion is scheduled to be held in Colombo on

Friday when Mr Sampanthan, who is the Parliamentary Group Leader, returns from medical treatment abroad. The ITAK is also considering the possibility of allying with Mano Ganesan’s Democratic People’s Front.

The Tamil parties, which usually contest as a bloc, are now divided with former Northern Province Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran leading his own party -- Tamil Makkal Kachchi -- in coalition with the Eelam People’ s Revolutionary Liberation Front led by Suresh Premachandran. Ananthi Sasitharan is also backing Mr Wigneswaran.

Mr Sampanthan has only lost his seat once -- in the 1989 Parliamentary election.