UNP has struck deal with LTTE proxy for Eastern poll -UPFA General Secretary

Nadira Gunatilleke

UPFA General Secretary Susil Premajayantha said yesterday they had come to know that the LTTE proxy TNA and the UNP has forged an agreement to fight the Eastern Provincial election adding that the UNP was now raking up various excuses to cover up its impending defeat at the poll.

"They are based in Colombo and speak to the media in order to mislead the public. They even do not know the road that lead to Batticaloa and which towns we have to pass to reach Batticaloa," Premajayantha said addressing the first press briefing of UPFA in connection with the Election Provincial Council, held at the Mahaweli Centre, Colombo yesterday.

Minister Premajayantha said that the Government challenged the UNP to produce even a single photograph with the date on it which shows armed persons engaged in the election campaign.

The youths in Jaffna took up arms when they lost confidence in elections after the infamous District Development Council Election in Jaffna in 1982, under the UNP. Minister Premajayantha pointed out that conducting the Eastern Provincial Council

Election is a victory itself adding it is being held after 20 years. There are 1432 candidates who have come forward to contest for 37 seats. This is a record number in the history of elections.

The Government is going to contest the election with over 130, 000 votes already in its hand obtained at the Local Government Election in the Batticaloa district.

"The Government has clearly identified the demography in the Eastern Province. The UPFA is the only group which handed over nominations in the Tamil language recognising the ethnic ratio in the East. The UPFA agrees that its Chief Minister is going to be a non Sinhalese.

The UPFA has respected the representation and ratio of each ethnicity of the Eastern Province and put forward only 11 candidates of its own. The number of Tamil candidates is 15 and the number of Muslim candidates 18. By doing so, we have proved that we have recognised the ethnic balance in the Province," the Minister stressed.

Science and Technology Minister Prof. Tissa Vitharana said four Tamil Organisations out of five based in the United Kingdom had accepted that implementation of the 13th Amendment as the right step to establish democracy in the East and to give the people the right of electing their own representatives.

In the UK and Nepal, the opposition groups who killed each other in the past are now on one side. They have come to the democratic process.

If the UPFA comes into power in the East racism will be totally eradicated, He said Transport Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said that for the Eastern Provincial Council Election an aircraft owner is contesting from the UNP and this is unique .

The Government has already constructed roads in the Eastern Resurgence, he added. Western Province Governor, Alavi Mowlana, Information and Media Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Urban Development and Sacred Areas Development Minister and Leader of the MEP Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, Constitutional Affairs and National Integration Minister and the Leader of the Communist Party D.E.W. Gunasekara, Leader, Desha Vimukthi Janatha Party, D.M. Podiappuhami and representatives from all political parties in the UPFA were present at the press briefing.