COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — M.A. Sumanthiran, the acting general secretary of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), said that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake had asked him to accept the post of Minister of Justice after assuming office — an offer he said he declined, citing his party’s political position and principles.
Mr. Sumanthiran made the disclosure on Sunday at a memorial event in Colombo marking the first death anniversary of the Tamil journalist Rajanayagam Bharathi. He was responding to remarks by a journalist at the event who accused Tamil political leaders of engaging with successive governments primarily for personal advancement rather than to address the longstanding political grievances of Tamil people.
Rejecting the allegation, Mr. Sumanthiran said he had been offered opportunities to assume senior government positions but had chosen not to accept them.
“If our intention had been personal gain or self-interest, we would have accepted such positions,” he said, adding that President Dissanayake had approached him about taking the justice portfolio after assuming the presidency.
Mr. Sumanthiran also said that before becoming president, Mr. Dissanayake had publicly remarked in Parliament that Mr. Sumanthiran was suitable to serve as Sri Lanka’s prime minister — comments he cited as evidence of professional respect across political divides.
