Rajapaksa helped Congress-DMK alliance in polls: official

T V Sriram
Colombo Jan 14 (PTI) Sri Lankan President Mahinda
Rajapaksa helped the Congress-Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK)
alliance's performance in Tamil Nadu during last year's
parliamentary elections by agreeing to halt the use of heavy
weapons against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in
the final stages of the civil war, a top Sri Lankan official
has claimed.

Lalith Weeratunga, the Secretary to the President,
claimed that Rajapaksa helped the Congress-DMK alliance's
performance in Tamil Nadu by "reaching an agreement" with the
Indian government to stop the use of heavy weapons during the
last stages of the ethnic conflict.
Weeratunga said the President initially had turned
down a request from India to stop the military operations last
year, but later reached an agreement to stop using heavy
weapons in order to help the alliance win the polls.
"Elections were being held in India so if the
government of India did not do something to stop what the rest
of the world thought was a massacre of Tamils (as it was
wrongly termed), the Tamils would not vote for the Congress,"
Weeratunga was quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror online.
"They (India) said 'please stop this' but the
President said 'sorry I cannot do that'", the official
underlined.
"But he (President) added 'ok what do you want me to
do to ensure victory of the Congress Party?'", Weeratunga
said.
“They (India) requested that the use of heavy weaponry
be stopped. This is what brought India and Sri Lanka closer,"
the top official told the website. (MORE) PTI TVS
RBT



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