India played key role in polls in Sri Lanka's Tamil areas: CM

India played an instrumental role in ensuring the holding of polls in Sri Lanka's Tamil-dominated Northern Province and it must now assist in rebuilding the war-ravaged region, newly elected Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran said today.
"Thanks to India, the Northern Provincial Council elections were held. I am here because India almost had a hand in the elections being held when the (Sri Lankan) government was saying we are not going to have it or we are going to scrap the 13th amendment and so on," he said a day after he was sworn in as the first elected Tamil chief minister.

"Not that India brought me in but India, in an indirect way, was instrumental in allowing the provincial council elections to take place after 25 years," said Wigneswaran, whose Tamil National Alliance swept the polls.
"They decided to have it, so because the elections were held I was able to win it," he added.
Ahead of his meeting with External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, he called on India to follow up by helping the development of the region.
"How best India can help us is a technical matter, but India's help in the war-torn society is absolutely essential. We are looking forward to it," he told Indian reporters here.

The polls last month were the first since the Tamil Tiger rebels were defeated by Sir Lankan forces to end decades of ethnic conflict.
Asked about his impression of the Sri Lankan government's commitment to fully implement the 13th amendment for devolving powers to provinces, Wigneswaran said, "Its lip service is commitment, I do accept that.