Government – Pillayan rift deepens

By Munza Mushtaq
The rift between certain government quarters and Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan reached new heights over the last two weeks, with the former rebel turned politician being cold-shouldered with no real role given to him to play during the recent visit to the country by a Tamil Nadu parliamentary delegation.
The Sunday Leader reliably learns that Pillayan was not even officially informed of the arrival of the delegation until Thursday night when he had received a fax signed by the Eastern Province Go vernor’s secretary who outlined a programme and informed him informally to be present at a certain spot along with some other 10 officials to greet the delegation.
“Not even a meeting was organised between the Chief Minister and the Indian delegation,” sources complained.
But the programme had other insignificant events such as that of visiting an apparel factory in Punani and staying at the Trincomalee naval dockyard for several hours for no apparent reason, it is learnt.
However, after close confidants of Pillayan complained to the relevant quarters who had no idea about the programme, the programme was abruptly changed and the Indian High Commission in Colombo extended an invitation to the Chief Minister to meet the MPs at India House in Colombo mid last week.