Nov 23, Colombo: Sri Lanka's Eastern Provincial Council Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan says that since he took office in May this year not a single person has been recruited to the Council.

"I don’t have any powers to implement the 13th Amendment. We have asked the central government to give us the powers vested in the 13th Amendment," says Chandrakanthan in an interview with a Sri Lankan weekend newspaper.

He also accuses that Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna, the leader of his party, Tamil People's Liberation Tigers (TMVP) who is with the government is now convincing the government not to give powers to him.

Chandrakanthan laments that only a few cabinet ministers in the district are directly involved in the ongoing development projects in the province.

TMVP broke away from Tamil Tigers in 2003 and supported the state security forces to wipe out Tiger powers in the Eastern Province.