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TULF SYMBOL AND CANDIDATES LISTS IN DISPUTE SINCE SAMBANDAN ALLEGEDLY PUT FORWARD LTTE APPROVED LIST

By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles

The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) is in the throes of its worst crisis regarding its own candidates at an election these days since its General Secretary R. Sampanthan trying to bulldoze his way with an allegedly Tamil Tiger nominated list of the party candidates completely ignoring all senior members of the of the party, TULF sources alleged in Colombo

Due to the pending crisis an approved final list of candidates and a party symbol for the April general elections have been so far delayed, the same sources said.

The crisis deepened after party President V. Anandasangari left a crucial meeting of the Tamil United Liberation Front abruptly, held to finalize a list of candidates for the forthcoming general elections.

Tamil politics in Sri Lanka in the Northern and Eastern provinces have been engulfed in a crisis during the last many months by an attempt of the rebel outfit, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to take over the full control of one of the oldest and undoubtedly the largest Tamil democratic political party in Sri Lanka allegedly with the help of the party secretary R. Sampanthan directly clashing with the party’s popular President and lawyer V. Anandasangari who won the last general election with the largest number of preferential votes in his district. The crisis climaxed with the party President obtaining a temporary restraining order on the party secretary Sampanthan , who would otherwise have had a powerful position in deciding about the final list of party candidates.

The party President V. Anandasangari reportedly told in ridicule the meeting held to finalize party candidates at the elections held in the party headquarters in Colombo that all office holders should resign and support the LTTE at the next general elections openly hence the claim that the rebel outfit was the sole representative of the Tamils. Anandasangari has refused to accept that any party was the sole representative of the Tamils in the past.

Political sources alleged that with the help of the Secretary of the TULF, the largest entity of the coalition, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the terrorist outfit , the LTTE was attempting to take over the control of the largest number of the Tamil Members of Parliament by actually putting forward LTTE candidates under the TULF name but actually representing the terrorist policies of the LTTE like maintaining the largest squad of suicide bombers in the world, the Black Tigers, which trains suicide bombers for the political purposes not only in Sri Lanka but also in other countries in the sub continent, Middle East and some South Eastern countries. Such a walking bomb had been already used on foreign soil to kill Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, sources said.

The same sources alleged that the majority of the TNA candidates , already prepared for the Jaffna and Batticaloa Districts , outside the control of the LTTE, contain active members of the LTTE.

The sources said , according to these lists, six candidates out of the 12 candidates in the Jaffna District were direct members of the terrorist outfit , the LTTE, while the Batticaloa District TNA list contained six names of the LTTE out of eight.

Although the LTTE is not officially a member of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) but a coalition the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), Tamil Eeelam Liberation Organization (TELO) and Eelam Peoples Liberation Front (EPRLF) – only a faction , LTTE has allegedly tried to control the affairs of the coalition

According to the TNA list the following members of the LTTE have been included in its proposed candidate list for Jaffna:District (1) S.Gajendran (President of the Tamil Eelam Student Conference and Chief organizer of the LTTE propaganda rallies, Pongu Thamil) (2) S.Cyril ( Secretary of the LTTE Front organization , Eelam Tamil Reawakening Organization and Jaffna District Cooperative Society President) (3) M. Eelavendan ( Organizing Secretary of the LTTE protests Committee) (4) P.Kangalingam ( Secretary of the LTTE front, humanitarian Organization and President , Jaffna District Agricultural Cooperative Society )

(5) Ms. Padmini Sidambaranathan (Advisor, LTTE cultural Unit) (6) Sivanesan, (Palmyrah Labor Union President of Uva)

The following LTTE member names have been included in the TNA candidate lists for the Batticaloa District: (1) Kingsley Rajanayagam ( Director of the LTTE related Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (2) Ariyanendran ( Editor of the LTTE propaganda newspaper, The Thamil Eelam) (3) Thangeshwari Kadirgamar (Cultural Officer) (4) Rajan Sathyamoorthi ( President, Tiger Development Committee and Traders Association ) (5) Jayananda Moorthi (LTTE propaganda writer) (6) Magamangaraja (LTTE supporter and former UNP candidate)

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