Karuna won't form new party

The TMVP will officially announce its stance with regard to the internal rift on January 10, TMVP Spokesperson Azath Moulana last week said while the Karuna faction said there was no move to form a separate party by the former LTTE Eastern Commander.

Moulana said that a meeting of the party high rankers was held recently and the issues within the party were discussed.

"We will officially release our stance on this whole issue on January 10," Moulana said.

Meanwhile, spokesperson for MP Vinayagamurthi Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman, D. Kamalanathan told The Sunday Leader that the party name would remain unchanged.

There were reports last week in the media that Karuna Amman would form a separate party following the dispute  between the TMVP and Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan.

Pillayan, a couple of weeks ago had said there were no such issues within the party and that Karuna had told him that there were no moves to form another party.

Kamalanathan said that there were no issues within the party and that there were no reasons for the party to split.

"Kamalanathan denied reports that Karuna would form a separate party if the TMVP politburo does not accept his proposal of a name change.

"These news items that appeared two weeks ago are baseless and exaggerated. There are no such plans or any need to do that.

"There were no rifts within the party at all in the first place. All these reports were exaggerated by those who wanted disharmony within our party and those who were not happy with the party's healthy progress within a short span," Kamalanathan said.