Karuna to contest Batticaloa as UPFA candidate

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 February 2009, 01:24 GMT]
Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna who met the government high officials, principals and the public in Batticaloa district this week had told them they should help electing him and six of his associates in Batticaloa district contesting under United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) ticket, Batticaloa residents said. The persons holding high offices in the government departments in Batticaloa are being replaced by Karuna's supporters, the residents alleged.

The top officials in Eastern University, Educational Zones, Multi-Purpose Co-operative Societies, Government Secretariat, Divisional Secretariats in Batticaloa district, particularly those from Jaffna and those perceived as supporters of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians and Pillayan are being threatened at gunpoint to relinquish their posts by Karuna group armed men, the sources further said.

It is alleged that Karuna group paramilitary men are threatening the officers of Eastern Provincial Council and the government departments in Eastern Province for being supportive of Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, the Chief Minister of Eastern Province, the sources said.

The Registrar of Eastern University was asked to resign from his post by the same men, they added.

Karuna, on his recent visit to Vaakarai, had told some school principals there that if they wanted to save their heads they should act wisely, attendees to the meeting said.