The leader of Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) Douglas Devananda, a cabinet minister in the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), who continues to publicly accuse the three Tamil dailies published in Jaffna of having denied him and his party equal opportunity and sufficient cooperation during the last parliamentary elections, is actively engaged in launching a new Tamil daily in Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. Minister Devananda had in person offered higher wages to the members of the editorial boards of the three dailies published in Jaffna in an attempt to lure them to his new daily, the sources added.
Minister Devananda had accused the three Jaffna dailies, particularly the ‘Uthayan’,
Uthayan’s Administrative Manager, N. Saravanabavan of Ilangkai Thamizh Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) had won in the last parliamentary election contesting in Tamil National Alliance (TNA) ticket in Jaffna electoral district.
Meanwhile, Devananda is casting his net wide among the media persons from Vanni now resettled in the peninsula, offering them higher salaries.
The minster’s political party already publishes a weekly paper in Jaffna called, ‘Thinamuarasu’.
Thinamurasu had been recently strongly criticized for an article published on the actions of Chaavakachcheari magistrate who had been allegedly threatened to death by a key EPDP operative, now in Jaffna remand prison for the suspected involvement in the abduction and killing of a student in Chaavakachcheari.
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