Lanka's Tamil party hit by internal feud over cabinet berths

Sri Lanka's main Tamil party TNA, which secured a thumping mandate in northern provincial council polls last month, is facing an internal crisis over the selection of cabinet ministers.
Selvam Adaikkalanathan, the leader of Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), has offered to resign from the party post as he is unhappy over the selection of K M Shavjilingam as one of four ministers in the government to be formed by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
TELO, Tamil United Liberation Front, Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front, People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam and Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi comprise the five-party alliance of the TNA.

Adaikkalanathan wants the ministerial post given to someone from the Wanni district. Shivajilingam comes from the Jaffna district.
The TELO chief said the party's vote base is Wanni district and it is only fair that the region be given ministerial representation. He said the party leadership had promised the ministerial position for Wanni.
The TNA won a landslide victory in the northern provincial council election, winning 30 out of 38 seats last month.
The northern council polls took place on September 21 for the first time in 25 years after provincial councils became part of the island's statutes in 1987.

Chief Minister-elect CV Wigneswaran will take the oath of office on Monday but the councillors will be sworn in four days later.