Sumanthiran nonplussed by President’s speech

By Dinasena Ratugamage

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran on Wednesday (19) said that he was disappointed that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s speech in Parliament did not touch upon the issues faced by the Tamil people. The speech didn’t allude to a political solution to the North and East, he added.

He told the media that the President’s recent speech was different from the others he had made. While the President spoke at length about the issues faced by the country, he did not speak about how he would address them, the TNA MP said.

Sumanthiran said that the Tamil people had been asking for the right to self-rule in the North and the East. “Probably this is why the President didn’t talk about the issues faced by the Tamils. The country is facing a financial crisis. The TNA had proposed a number of solutions to this issue. However, the President had shown no interest in talking to the TNA,” the MP said.