The swearing-in ceremony was held at the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat around 6.30 p.m. in the presence of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The President has cause to worry as his Muslim ally M. L. A. M. Hisbullah accused him of betraying the Muslims by going back on his promise to make him the chief minister. He said he and two other Muslim members would step out of the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA). “The President and the government deceived not only me but also the whole Muslim community and the 12 Muslim ministers,” the BBC Sinhala service quoted Mr Hisbullah saying.
The May 10 EPC polls in the eastern districts of Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara saw the UPFA win 20 (18 plus two bonus) seats in the 37-member council, while the opposition UNP-Sri Lankan Muslim Congress alliance got 15 and the JVP and Tamil Democratic National Alliance secured one seat each.
Several opposition parties and rights organisations have termed the elections as rigged, listing out the many instances of bogus voting and intimidation of voters. The most-heard complaint was the Pillayan’s armed cadres, going under the political banner of TMVP, were in control of several polling stations, driving away voters identified as members of rival camps.
Brushing aside Hisbullah’s claim, Pillayan said the UPFA would not have scored victory in the provincial elections but for his TMVP helping.
Also, he has made it clear that his group would keep arms “until terrorism is defeated”. Mr Hisbullah had vowed to disarm all militant groups, Tamil and Muslims, if he was made the chief minister in the east. The Pillayan group has been repeatedly accused of murdering civilians, abducting children for conscription and other serious human rights violations, while teaming up with the government forces to take on the LTTE and other rival outfits in the east.
Interestingly, Pillayan’s boss Karuna Amman is being held in a London prison after being arrested by the British immigration officials a little over four months ago for entering the country on false travel documents.
He is likely to be deported to Colombo shortly and that could throw up a fresh leadership conflict in the paramilitary outfit. Acknowledging that Karuna was still the leader of the TMVP, Pillayan had sometime back even offered to hand over the CM post to him when he returned home.
Informed sources said President Rajapaksa was keen on having a retired Sri Lanka Administrative Service officer Mounagurusamy, as the chief minister of the eastern province, preferring him over the controversial Pillayan and Mr Hisbullah.
Mr Samy was the Government Agent (equivalent to district collector in India) in Batticaloa and had a clean image, so the President had thought he would make a good chief minister—a fair match for the only other Tamil chief minister in the world, DMK’s M karunanidhi heading the administration in Tamil Nadu.
Mr Samy had contested in the May 10 poll but lost. However, the President was contemplating bringing him into the council through one of the two bonus seats. It now appears that he did not want to take chances with the militant Pillayan and might have chosen to wait for Karuna’s return to see how the TMVP fortunes evolve in the coming days.