TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran yesterday alleged that a ‘spate of false propaganda’ are being spread against him as Local Government polls heat up.
Local Government polls have led to internal rifts between Sumantiran and Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Vigneswaran more apparent.
One rumour, he said, was certain media organisations and the Northern Province Chief Minister spreading news that he and the TNA leadership had tried to stop a meeting between the Malaysian Prime Minister and Vigneswaran.
I did not do such thing. I was asked if Sampanthan would be available for a meeting and I said he was going to be in Trincomalee and would not be able to meet the PM. I did not have any conversation with either the Prime Minister or the Foreign Minister in this regard. It was some official from the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry I spoke to,” Sumanthiran stated in an email sent to Vigneswaran, explaining his stance.
He took the opportunity to remind the Northern Province Chief Minister that it was the TNA leader, who insisted that Prime Minister Modi meet him, though the Indian PM had not scheduled a meeting with him.
“The Chief Minister has said that if I was not involved in sabotaging his meeting with the Malaysian PM, I should deny it. That is why I wrote to him. He has been propagating these lies without even checking with me,” Sumanthiran said. The TNA MP stressed that certain electronic media and websites had been fabricating news for political advantage, “They have reported that I have been appointed a minister and that I have been given a house in Colombo 7. I am not a minister and I have never seen such a house,” he said.
As his own party member joins in the fray, MP Sumanthiran remarked, “Everyone knows that the Chief Minister is estranged from the party for some time now. Despite this, we will win the Local Government elections hands down.
He has very little influence. Even during the 2015 Parliamentary elections, he asked people to vote for another party but that did not work,” Sumanthiran said.
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