Wigneswaran To Meet Modi In November?

Officials in Delhi are reportedly trying to work out a schedule for northern province Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi next month.

The provincial Chief Minister has been invited by an NGO, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, to give a public lecture on November 9. PUCL said that Wigneswaran has accepted the invitation. However Indian media says that there is still uncertainty about the visit as the Prime Minister’s office was still trying to find time for Wigneswaran in Modi’s schedule.

India had already given a verbal invitation to the Northern Province Chief Minister to visit the country after his election last year.

Earlier, President Mahinda Rajapapaksa had asked him to be part of his delegation participating in the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Modi in May, but Wigneswaran had turned down his offer.

The friction between the provincial government and Colombo has only increased over the month, with Wigneswaran recently refusing to attend any function of Rajapaksa, when he visited Jaffna, including the inauguration of the revived Jaffna railway line.

The Tamil National Alliance leaders had visited India earlier in August. They had pointed out that Colombo was not making much progress on the reconciliation process. However, Rajapaksa blamed the TNA for obstructing development in the province in several rallies in the north recently.

However, President Rajapaksa, delivering his 10th budget speech in Parliament on October 24, invited the Tamil National Alliance to join hands with the government to form a “united nation” and to ensure development for every community of the country.