Colombo: The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the main Tamil party in Sri Lanka, urged Tuesday all political parties representing the minority community to come under its wing.
TNA spokesperson M A Sumanthiran told reporters in Jaffna that with the parliamentary election to happen soon, it was important for Tamils to join rather than stay divided.
“We are the largest Tamil party, we invite all other Tamil parties to join us and stand united to fight for Tamil issues,” Sumanthiran said.
Tamil minority in the northeastern regions and central tea plantations voted overwhelmingly for Sajith Premadasa, the defeated candidate in the November 16 presidential election.
President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was elected with sweeping support from the Sinhala Buddhist majority which he publicly acknowledged at his inauguration.
Tamils voted 80 per cent for Premadasa, while Sinhalese gave over 65 per cent of their votes to Rajapaksa, leaving a severely polarised electorate.
Rajapaksa has appointed two Tamils in his Cabinet from the northern province and from the central tea plantation region with people of Indian origin.
Despite not having the Tamil support, Rajapaksa pledged to be the president for all communities.
PTI