MPs Order One Hummer, One BMW, 64 Land Cruisers

During the past few weeks, duty free permit for MP vehicles made news. Most were curious about the vehicles what vehicles the members of the Parliament have ordered. Some documents regarding the ordered vehicles were released, revealing that the former militant turned politician, Jaffna District MP Dharmalingam Siddharthan has ordered a Hummer. State Minister of Defence has ordered a BMW, and 64 other MPs have ordered Toyota Land Cruisers.  

Hummer is a SUV and SUT (light duty truck/ pickup truck) that was marketed by Hummer and built by AM General. Amid of allegations of high fuel consumption, it is a popular luxury brand internationally. They are expensive to buy, and even more to keep. Hummers were first made for military use. 

Member of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Siddarthan is the son of late politician V. Dharmalingam and by profession an accountant. He was one of the founding members of the Tamil New Tigers and in 1977 founded the London branch of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Later LTTE chairman Uma Maheswaran split from the LTTE and founded the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE). Since the assassination of Uma Maheswaran in 1989, Siddarthan has been the leader of PLOTE. 

General public assume that the new vehicle will be very useful to MP’s social services in rural North. Hence they hope that they will see their MP more often for further development of the area.