By Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera

In what was widely seen as a new political development , the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) yesterday commended in Parliament efforts by Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa and Resettlement Minister Rishard Bathiudeen in resettling displaced civilians in the North.

Speaking during the debate on the Vote on Account, TNA MP N. Srikantha said it would be politically hypocritical for his party not to praise the efforts by these two members in the resettlement process.

Mr. Srikantha said around 100,000 people had been resettled upto now.

“We thank the government for it,” he said adding that MP Rajapaksa and Minister Bathiudeen had played a pivotal role in this exercise.

He requested the government to give at least Rs. 50,000 for each displaced family instead of Rs. 25,000 given at present.

“We ask the government to resettle the remaining displaced families as soon as possible,” he said.

The TNA stressed the need to work out a political solution the national question. The party highlighted that all the parties should stand together in this respect. “We cannot get a solution by force. Similarly, it won’t be easy to impose a solution on us. All the parties have to come under one umbrella and resolve this long standing problem,” he said.