TULF says LTTE has nothing to do with the merger of the two provinces

V Anandasangaree, said it was an untimely decision taken by the government despite India's objections and while people in the east are fleeing the fighting.

"The government can hold a referendum after finding a peaceful solution and refugees return home," he told BBC Sinhala.

Referendum

"What is the special reason to de-merge at this particular point?" the veteran politician who has long been a vocal critic of the Tamil Tigers questioned.

He said neither the people of the north and the east not the government is going to be beneficial of this untimely decision.

The government has taken steps to de-merge the provinces temporarily merged after the Indo-Lanka accord in 1987.

Court ruling

Sri Lanka's Supreme Court last year ruled that the temporarily merger was against the country's constitution.

But the former parliamentarian Anadasangaree says the President Rajapaksa's government could obtain a parliamentary majority if they were genuinely interested in keeping the provinces merged.

"What I have been fighting for the full democracy for all the peoples in Sri Lanka".