One of the TNA constituent groups Leader Siddarthan was offered the maximum in USD with a view to the settlement being in LKR.
However, Mr Adaikalanathan of TELO apparently managed to get himself settled in dollars in Dubai.
Monday, 18 July, Cassim Faizal – Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Member of Parliament for District of Ampara was leaving United National Party (UNP) Chairman, Vajira Abeywardene’s home hurriedly. He was greeted at the entrance by Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) President, Member of Parliament for Vanni District, Selvam Adaikalanathan. Mr Adaikalanathan was entering the premises. Neither men spoke at length as they both knew why they were there.
Both Mr Siddarthan (PLOTE Leader) and Mr Adaikalanathan (President of TELO) are still believed to be in the Military Intelligence payroll.
Mr Adaikalanathan was there that evening to bid for more as he was offering another two of his TELO MPs, namely Mr Vino Noharathalingam, Member of Parliament for Vanni District and Mr Jana Govinthan Karunakaran – Member of Parliament for District of Batticaloa. Mr Noharathalingam has let Mr Adaikalanathan to negotiate on his behalf as he is disadvantaged by his limited ability to converse in any other language other than Tamil. It is also believed that they are both close relatives. As he was the main go between and as President of TELO, Mr Adaikalanthan was able to negotiate a better dollar figure, nearer to the maximum for himself.
On Tuesday, 19 July late afternoon, the Tamil National Alliance parliamentary group met at the residence of Mr R Sampanthan. Arguments for and against each of the three candidates were discussed with Mr R Sampanthan and Mr M A Sumanthiran favouring the Dullas Allahapperuma/ Sajit Premadasa combination. Amongst various points, the Indian preference was also considered.
India obviously isn’t very keen on Ranil Wickramasinghe being the Prime Minster or President.
So far, there has not been any official acknowledgement from Delhi on the election or the selection of Ranil Wickramasinghe as President by the members of parliament. As always an Indian High Commission tweet acknowledged the recent events but yet again clearly stated that India will be supportive of the people of Sri Lanka.
By 10pm the TNA members of parliament (10 members) unanimously decided to back and vote in favour of Mr Allahapperuma’s candidacy.
When everyone were leaving Mr Sampanthan’s house, Selvam Adaikalanathan was busy texting and fiddling on his phone and made an excuse to avoid giving another colleague of his a lift home.
One by one five of them ended up at the UNP Chairman’s house to debrief him and the then Acting President Mr Ranil Wickramasinghe who joined them briefly by phone.
The five who went to Vajira Abeywardene’s house were:
1. Selvam Adaikalanathan – Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) President, Member of Parliament for Vanni District
2. Jana Govinthan Karunakaran – TELO Member of Parliament for District of Batticaloa
3. Vino Noharathalingam – TELO Member of Parliament for Vanni District
4. Dharmalingam Siddarthan – Leader of People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) – Member of Parliament for Jaffna District
5. Charles Nirmalanathan – ITAK – Member of Parliament for Vanni District
It was after midnight, All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) Parliamentarian S.M.M.Musharraf and Thavaraja Kalai Arasan – ITAK – National List Parliamentarian for Ampara District were to join the group at the UNP Chairman’s residence. With Mr Kalai Arasan joining, the majority of (six out of ten) the TNA members jointly voted in favour of Ranil Wickramasinghe in a secret ballot against their Party’s unanimous decision.
(Source: WhatsApp)