Tamil National Alliance MP M A Sumanthiran met with T T V Dhinakaran on the eve of his election victory in Tamil Nadu this week, where they discussed a political solution to the Tamil question.
Mr Sumanthiran was visiting India for the ‘Arumanai Christmas Vizha’, reports The Hindu, where he met with Mr Dhinakaran. Originally, TNA leader R Sampanthan was invited but could not attend due to illness.
“We met for about 20 minutes before the public meeting began,” he said. “Mr. Dhinakaran asked about how the Tamils of the north and east were doing in the post-war period.”
“I told them this government is better, but that our pursuit of a long-lasting political solution to the Tamil question continues... They (the MLAs) expressed solidarity with Sri Lankan Tamils for a political solution in a merged north-east,” he continued.
Mr Dhinakaran won a hotly contested by-election for Chennai's RK Nagar assembly constituency, held after the death of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa last December. He had broken off from the mainstream of the AIADMK party and ran as an independent candidate. Mr Dhinakaran, the nephew of former AIADMK chief Sasikala Natarajan, won by a margin of 40,707 votes over the AIADMK candidate, and declared himself as Jayalalithaa’s “true successor” after his victory.