TNA Leader R. Sampanthan said that he had a very cordial and lengthy discussions with the Opposition’s common candidate General Sarath Fonseka on Sunday night. At that meeting Fonseka revealed his stand on the Tamil people and the goals he stood for.

The talks were held at UNP Deputy Leader MP Karu Jayasuriya’s residence. The talks centered mainly on the immediate, midterm and long term concerns of the Tamil people.

Sampanthan said "We would explore all avenues that are open to the Tamil people based on the manifestos of the two main candidates. Following this, we would consult all sections of the Tamil Community including the Tamil Diaspora before arriving at the final decision."

Deputy Leader of the TNA, MP Mavai Senathirajah said that R. Sampanthan had initially held very cordial and lengthy discussions with President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Wednesday.

Meanwhile TNA sources said that in response to President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s invitation to the 22 TNA MPs, all of them, except for M. K. Sivajilingham who is in India, had decided to respond and at a meeting scheduled to take place on a date acceptable to both parties at the latter part of this week.

 TNA welcome if it changes stance – EPDP

The EPDP yesterday said it would be happy to welcome the Tamil National Alliance if that party changed its attitude. EPDP Secretary General Douglas Devananda , said that the EPDP would have been happy had the TNA used its political clout with 22 MPs to redeem the Tamil people from the dark ages. But it did not.

He said that when the political climate was favourable to win the political rights of the Tamil speaking people, he had approached the TNA advising them to follow the principle of ‘pragmatism’, thereby employing realistic political moves and maneuvers in order to redeem the people from the untold miseries they had been subjected to. Devananda added that had the TNA taken its present stand long ago, a lot of destruction, distress and torment suffered by Tamil people could have been avoided. The EPDP had realized that the TNA MPs had begun to adopt an amiable attitude towards the Government and had openly welcomed the realistic approaches of the EPDP.

He said that the TNA MPs had openly admitted their past errors and were willing to take realistic stands. The EPDP was ready to have a dialogue with TNA on the issue of the welfare of the Tamil speaking people. The EPDP was of the view that it was useless to hanker after unobtainable objects and it was utterly foolish to invite dangers through confrontational politics and it was unforgivably hypocritical to abuse politics for personal gains.