Nirgunan Tiruchelvam endorses Liberal support for Prime Minister

Nirgunan Tiruchelvam, son of Neelan Tiruchelvam and former Deputy Secretary General of the Liberal Party, had written to the leadership of the party endorsing its support to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse in the forthcoming Presidential election.

Mr. Tiruchelvam, who now works abroad, wrote as follows -

"I fully agree with your endorsement of Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse's candidacy...Rajapakse's anti-LTTE credentials are much better than Mr. Wickremesinghe's. Also, he is more comfortable with the rural Sinhalese masses than Wickremesinghe...Rajapakse is secure in the Sinhalese milieu, which is essential for long-term settlement."

Neelan Tiruchelvam was one of the principal architects of the 1981 District Development Councils Bill. That attempt at devolution failed after the UNP campaign managers in Jaffna presided over the burning of Jaffna Public Library.

In 1981 the TULF could ignore the LTTE demand that the election should be boycotted. However, the 1981 attacks in Jaffna, when the MP (subsequently assassinated by the LTTE) had to flee for his life, caused much resentment. Subsequently, with an increase in support for the LTTE, the TULF had to give into the LTTE demand that local elections be boycotted.

Neelan Tiruchelvam was also, before the LTTE in turn assassinated him, one of the principal architects of the 2000 proposed constitutional reforms. These had to be abandoned when the UNP refused to support them. Nirugunan Tiruchelvam, who was a member of the Liberal Party from his student days onward, has worked abroad for the last few years but returns frequently to Sri Lanka and is still concerned with politics and the peace process.