The Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) claims that Chief Minister of the Northern Province C.V. Wigneswaran had attempted to ‘dilute’ the findings of guilt against a provincial minister who was his close confidant, by sacking all four ministers of the provincial council. 

ITAK Assistant General Secretary M.A. Sumanthiran, in an exclusive interview with Ada Derana, today revealed the actual reason behind ITAK members of the Northern Provincial Council presenting a no-confidence motion against the Chief Minister to the Governor of the Northern Province. 

The background to this is that there were serious allegations of fraud and corruption against one particular minister and it is the ITAK members who asked the Chief Minister to inquire into that, he said. 

“They even passed a resolution in the Northern Provincial Council requesting the Chief Minister to do this,” Sumanthiran said. 

However, he charged, without doing that the Chief Minister constituted an inquiry panel of his own and asked all four ministers to face inquiries, which they did. 

But at the end of the day, the minister with allegations against him was found guilty of fraud and corruption while one other minister was found guilty of administrative irregularities, the TNA MP said. 

“Our position was both those ministers should have been removed and we asked the Chief Minister to take immediate action against them.” 

“After delaying this for a long time, the Chief Minister tried to remove all four by which he tried to minimize or dilute the findings of guilt against that one minister who was his close confidant,” he said. 

It is against that act that the members of the ITAK have acted and given a motion of no-confidence, Sumanthiran said. 

“If the Chief Minister will change his ways and act only against those found guilty, then ITAK members will reconsider their position. If not the Chief Minister will be removed from his office.”