CM Pillayan says he is 'very busy' to meet his party leader

Sivanesathiurai Chandrakanthan also known as Pillayan confirmed to the BBC Tamil Service that he had already spoken to Karuna.

During that conversation the CM has explained his inability to meet Karuna immediately due to hectic schedule.

Karuna and Pillayan are the leader and the deputy leader of the paramilitary group turned political party, Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP), respectively.

Eastern CM post

The CM earlier told BBC journalist Swaminathan Natarajan in Batticaloa that the Chief Minister post will be handed over to Karuna once he returns to Sri Lanka.

The Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) elections were held on 10 May while Col. Karuna was serving a prison sentence in UK.

	Karuna says he has no intention to replace Pillayan as eastern CM

Vinayagamurthy Muralitharan widely known as Karuna Amman returned to Colombo after serving half of the prison sentence in UK for an immigration offence.

However Mr. Chandrakanthan told BBC Tamil Service on Friday that there was no need to hand over his reigns to party leader.

He accused the media of creating an issue out of CM post.

The TMVP, the CM said, will discuss it if such a need arises.

CM Pillayan said he would meet Karuna at a later stage.

There have been media reports earlier of a split in the TMVP between Karuna and Pillayan factions.

Karuna Amman, former LTTE commander in the east, broke away from the LTTE in April 2004.