The newly appointed Eastern Province Governor Senthil Thondaman was quite busy shortly after the swearing-in ceremony at the Presidential Secretariat on Wednesday.
Mr Thondaman, President of the Ceylon Workers Congress, also called on Indian High Commissioner Gopal Bagley among other engagements he had, including a visit to his party office. Mr Thondaman, who maintains close ties with India, and often refers to it as his “second home,” seldom felt shy to showcase his links.
Meanwhile, the outgoing Eastern Province Governor Anuradha Yahampath could not make it for a high-level meeting that was scheduled to be held this week with China’s Yunnan province Governor Wang Yubo. Before her removal, she was informed by the President’s Office last week not to go ahead with a development plan under the brother province concept which she played a key role in the formulation with Yunnan Province. Didn’t the Governor know basic geo-politics; that India would come down on her like a ton of bricks for linking the Eastern province, the so-called ‘homeland’ of Sri Lankan Tamils, with a province of China.
However, the visiting Chinese Provincial Governor met with Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena on Wednesday following a field visit to Colombo’s Port City, Kandy and Polonnaruwa before visiting the Eastern province where Rs 25 million worth of school kits, equipment and parcels of food were distributed to several schools on Friday. That could not be stopped–even by India.
Sunday Times.
