“After news broke of the TMVP central committee deciding on suspending Karuna some government officials have been making frantic efforts to reconcile the members of the two factions although they have assured that Karuna would not return to the country,” a top TMVP source said.

The government is keeping a close tab on the latest developments within the Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pullikal (TMVP) and has gone to the extent of making a seemingly futile attempt to reconcile the two factions led by Karuna Amman and the new leader of the organization Pillayan, well informed sources told the Daily Mirror yesterday.

Meanwhile a major shakeup is also taking place within the TMVP following the change in leadership with reports that the general secretary of the organization, Pathmini, and the head of the TMVP peace secretariat, Mahesh, were yesterday forced to vacate their posts while the fate of party spokesman Azad Maulana is also hanging in the balance. Maulana however could not be reached to verify the reports.

“After news broke of the TMVP central committee deciding on suspending Karuna some government officials have been making frantic efforts to reconcile the members of the two factions although they have assured that Karuna Amman would not return to the country,” a top TMVP source said.

The government is reportedly concerned that cadres of the two factions would clash in the east and has urged Pillayan to ensure Karuna loyalists Iniyabarathy, Mangalam and Sinathamby be drafted into the outfit under the new leadership.

Just hours before the central committee of the TMVP met on Sunday Karuna Amman had decided to appoint Iniyabarathy as the new

political head even as the former head Thileepan had decided to switch allegiance and extend his support to Pillayan.

The appointment of Iniyabarathy, a key suspect in the killing of journalists Dharmaratnam Sivaram, will however stand void if the TMVP central committee decides not to draft him into the outfit under Pillayan once it is completely restructured and an official announcement is made.

Meanwhile the TMVP source strongly refuted suggestions that the split was orchestrated by the government in an attempt to divert the negative attention created for Sri Lanka by the ‘Karuna faction’ over allegations of abductions, extortions and child recruitment in government controlled areas of the east.

The TMVP source asserted that differences between Pillayan and Karuna, stemming from financial irregularities, had been in existence for a long period of time and did not surface recently just as top UN officials were preparing to visit the country.

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