Corrupt practices of Sudu Nelum denied

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Peoples' Alliance (PA), which opened a branch office for the first time in the Jaffna Peninsula today, denied responsibility for the corrupt practices of the Sudu Nelum Movement during the run up to the local government elections held in the Jaffna Peninsula in January this year, said sources in Jaffna.

The PA's Jaffna Organiser Velmurugu Thangarajah, speaking to the press after function, said that the PA would contest all future elections in Jaffna on its own.

He said that the PA is to erect a statue of Vijaya Kumaratunaga, the late husband of Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga, in front of the Central College in the Jaffna town on May 24.

This spot was selected because Kittu, the former Jaffna commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), had welcomed Vijaya Kumaratunga in this place.

The Sudu Nelum Movement, the propaganda arm of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), attempted to field a list of candidates at the local government elections held in January this year.

When it was unable to do so, its candidates contested under the Eelam Peoples' Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) banner.

The party made poor showing at the elections. After the elections were over, Mangala Nesan, the chief organiser of the Sudu Nelum Movement in Jaffna, was removed from this post and stripped of his membership of the SLFP.

The reason cited for his fall was corruption. Mangala Nesan, was a protégée of Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera, who is the head of the Sudu Nelum Movement.

Vijaya Kumaratunga visited Jaffna in 1986 to secure the release of some Sri Lankan security forces personnel who were in the custody of the Liberation Tigers at that time.