TNA DOES NOT HAVE THE INTEREST OF THE PEOPLE .

(Courtesy of The Island)

The NPC remained notoriously intransigent in dealing with the government and even refused to cooperate with the latter on matters that were beneficial to the people. In 2014, the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa revealed that the NPC had opposed a government move to divert the Mahaweli water to the Iranamadu tank in the North. Why did the NPC do so? The only plausible explanation is that the TNA, which controlled the NPC may have thought such projects would cause an erosion of its vote bank. Rajapaksa also said that the NPC had not utilised the funds allocated for development work.

Meanwhile, the TNA has made a mockery of its advocacy of devolution by propping up a government, which keeps postponing the PC polls, on some pretext or the other. If it really believes that devolution is a prerequisite for looking after the interests of the people in the North and the East, it ought to pressure the government to conduct the PC elections without further delay. The North and the East have been without elected councillors for a long time as the TNA helped the government secure the passage of the Provincial Council Elections (Amendment Act), which enabled the postponement of the PC polls.

Three conclusions are possible from the foregoing. The TNA does not have the interest of the people it claims to represent, at heart, and only seeks political expediency through a captive government; or it does not believe in its own claim that devolution is necessary to guarantee the rights of the people in the North and the East; or it is not interested in the PCs because it is eyeing a different power sharing arrangement which goes beyond the 13th Amendment. It is said that he who pursues the stag regards not the hare.

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