Sri Lanka: Wigneswaran told to follow ‘Mahinda Chinthanaya’ by Mahinda Rajapaksha

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has written to the Northern Province Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran informing him that he needs to ensure the ‘Mahinda Chinthanaya’ policies are implemented, government sources said. The advice comes after Wigneswaran was absent from two District Co-ordinating Committee meetings held in the North last week.

The District Co-ordinating Committee meetings in Jaffna and Kilinochchi were held last week and they were chaired by Minister Douglas Devananda.
 The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) boycotted both meetings while Wigneswaran was noted as being absent.

In light of this, government sources said that the President has now written to Wigneswaran saying as he is the co-chair of the District Co-ordinating Committee, he is expected to attend the meetings.

He was also told that he needs to ensure the ‘Mahinda Chinthanaya’ policies are implemented despite contesting and winning the Northern Provincial Council elections under the TNA manifesto.

The President has said that a majority of the public in Sri Lanka had voted and backed the ‘Mahinda Chinthanaya’ policies and so Wigneswaran has a duty to implement those policies.

Minister Devananda, speaking at the District Committee meeting in Kilinochchi last week had said the TNA boycott was for political gain while there was a debate on the reasons behind Wigneswaran’s absence. He also said that some important discussions and decisions could have been taken had Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Sri Lanka last week.

Speaking at the Kilinochchi District development meeting today, Devananda said that had the Indian Premier visited Sri Lanka there could have been important discussions held on the Indian housing project.
By Easwaran Rutnam
SL