Courtesy The Daily News

ƒ¢¢”š¬…”I will stop handling the Uthuru Wasanthaya Program from September 22 and pass the onus of continuing this program for the benefit of all northerners to the new Provincial Council which will be elected by the people of the province,ƒ¢¢”š¬‚ Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, pioneer of the Uthuru Wasanthaya program launched to develop the Northern Province said in a historic ƒ¢¢”š¬’Vaddukkoddai declaration’, Sunday.

ƒ¢¢”š¬…”I make this proclamation from this historic place,ƒ¢¢”š¬‚ he said addressing a political meeting in support of UPFA members contesting the forthcoming Northern Provincial Council election at Chittankerny in the Valikamam west of the Vaddukkoddai electorate.

Minister Douglas Devananda presided.

He said Vaddukkoddai was a historic place of great political significance.

The basic principle of democracy is rule of the people, for the people and by the people, Minister Rajapaksa said.

He said the liberated people of the North have got an opportunity for the first time to elect a group of their own people to govern them according to their ƒ¢¢”š¬’wish and will.’

ƒ¢¢”š¬…”There is a choice for the people on September 21. They should decide whether they want freedom, peace and development with self rule in the province by their own representatives or on the other hand they want a group that will lead them back to the dark era with rhetoric of self rule without any means or resources to develop the province,ƒ¢¢”š¬‚ Minister Rajapaksa said.

The minister drawing the attention of the people to the previous local government election recalled that the TNA asked for power promising development of the Northern Province through funds obtained through the Diaspora, UN and the international community.

ƒ¢¢”š¬…”But they now claim they have no money to do anything.ƒ¢¢”š¬‚

The minister said the TNA wants power not to work for the people but to tell the world that the government machinery set up at Local Government and Provincial level have not provided any solution to the problems faced by the Tamils.

ƒ¢¢”š¬…”If this aspiration of the TNA becomes a reality, the people of the North will be deprived of the their economic freedom which is also a right of a human being,ƒ¢¢”š¬‚ he said.

Minister Rajapaksa called upon the people of the northern province to think wisely and vote on September 21 to elect their own representatives who can rule and address their problems quickly and efficiently.