UNP only engineered Karuna’s defection from LTTE - Ashu Marasinghe

We did not appoint him to Parliament and never gave him the ticket to contest from UNP

By Yohan Perera   

The UNP engineered the defection of Vinayagamurthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman from the LTTE to weaken the Tamil Tigers for political gain, former UNP MP Prof. Ashu Marasinghe said yesterday.   

Prof. Marasinghe said this in response to a question raised by journalists as to how the UNP could oppose Karuna now, as it was the UNP government after having associated with him in the past. “It was true that the UNP government engineered the defection of Karuna from the LTTE, but we did not appoint him to Parliament. We never gave him the ticket to contest from the UNP,” he said. “We broke Karuna off for political gain at that time but we never associated with them thereafter,” he added.

Asked to comment about the critical remarks that have been made by former Minister Harin Fernando, Prof. Marasinghe said there was no point in wasting time to talk of a person who has no character at all. The UNP candidate for Moneragala District said the farmers in the district including those in Siyambalanduwa are suffering because of the traders who exploit them. “Farmers in Siyambalanduwa do not get a fair price for their maize, water melon and paddy,” he said. This area could be developed into a major supply centre of food crops, if proper attention is given,” he added.

We broke Karuna off for political gain at that time but we never associated with hem thereafter