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The
three
TNA
dissidents
who
submitted
nominations
on the
UPFA
ticket
to
contest
the
April 8
General
Election
told the
Sunday
Observer
that
their
decision
was
prompted
by their
belief
in
President
Mahinda
Rajapaksa's
genuine
concern
for the
welfare
of the
Tamils
of the
North
and the
East.
They
believed
that the
Tamils
who were
reduced
to a
state of
destitution
having
lost
their
dear
ones,
properties
and all
means of
livelihood
in the
three-decade-long
war can
only be
salvaged
under
the
leadership
of
President
Rajapaksa,
who has
received
the
country's
mandate
for a
second
term of
seven
years
and has
drawn up
plans
for the
resettlement,
rehabilitation
and
economic
welfare
of the
people
in the
North
and the
East.
The
three
former
Parliamentarians,
Sivanathan
Kishore
and
Sathasivam
Kanagaratnam
who
represented
the
Wanni
district
and
Thangeswari
Kathirgamar
who
represented
the
Batticaloa
district
in the
last
Parliament,
said
that
their
support
base in
their
constituencies
was
intact
and they
decided
to ally
with the
UPFA
instead
of
contesting
independently
or in an
alliance
with
other
political
parties
because
they
believed
that the
right
framework
for
peace,
democracy,
communal
amity
and
development
in the
war-torn
regions
has been
clearly
set out
in the
Mahinda
Chintana.
They
received
the
overwhelming
mandate
of their
people
at the
last
general
election
and they
stood by
them
through
thick
and thin
unlike
other
TNA
politicians
who
spent
much of
their
time in
foreign
countries
with
their
kith and
kin.
Their
decision
was
supported
by
everyone
and they
are
certain
of
victory
at the
general
election.
All
Tamil
parties
and
political
groups
have
splintered
due to
the
rigid
attitude
of the
TNA,
they
said.
They
believed
that
confrontational
and
divisive
political
ideologies
and the
rhetoric
of their
TNA
colleagues
and
their
pro-LTTE
parliamentary
line
would
only add
fuel to
fire
with
regard
to the
decades-long
sufferings
of their
people.
"We
realise
that
these
leaders
misled
and
alienated
the
Tamils
from the
national
mainstream
by been
vociferous
on Tamil
nationalism
and
rousing
communal
sentiments
instead
of
focusing
on the
socio-economic
uplift
of the
Tamils
and the
need for
national
unity.
Over
thirty
precious
years in
the life
of the
Tamils
have
been
wasted
in this
kind of
politics
and it
is now
time to
re-assess
and
re-think
in terms
of the
long
term
welfare
of the
people.
In
fact we
feel
that we
should
have
taken
this
national
political
line
much
earlier
in the
best
interests
of our
people",
they
said.
Courtesy
: Sunday
Observer
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