The All Ceylon Tamil United Front has warned the Tamil National Alliance against conspiring to split the Tamil vote at the upcoming general election in the North and East and leave Tamils rudderless. The warning was issued to TNA leader R. Sampanthan by Dr. K. Vigneswaran.

ACTUF General Secretary Dr. Vigneswaran was speaking to a group of Tamil intellectuals who had cautioned the Tamil voters to be wary of a conspiracy to divide the Tamil vote and make them powerless.

Dr. Vigneswaran, who is contesting the Trincomalee District on the Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP) ticket was earlier a political advisor to EPDP leader Douglas Devananda.

Some Tamil intellectual had brought to the notice of Dr. Vigneswaran an unusually large number of Tamil candidates in the North and East (1,814) belonging to a record number of political parties and independent groups contesting in the five districts of Jaffna, Batticaloa, Vanni, Digamedulla and Trincomalee to elect 34 members.

Dr. Vigneswaran said that he advocated that the TNA, TULF, TMVP and his party should contest as one alliance under the TNA.

He said he had prepared a new constitution and handed it to Sampanthan but he rejected it claiming that the TMVP was an armed group. "Later, he agreed to accommodate the TMVP when I pointed out to him that TNA partners TELO and EPRLF were also armed groups," said Dr. Vigneswaran. Sampanthan had then laid down a condition that Federal party founder S. J. V. Chelvanayakam’s grand son Ilangovan be permitted to contest in Jaffna.

Dr. Vigneswaran said they had agreed to the condition and during talks with Eastern Province Chief Minister Chandrakanthan, Sampanthan had said that the TMVP was not acceptable to the TNA as it was against the merger of the North and East.

Vigneswaran said that subsequently Sampanthan had avoided meetings and started enrolling candidates. That had led to Gajendrakumar Ponnabalam’s exit from the TNA.