Indian-origin Tamil parties join Rajapakse govt

Colombo, Aug 25: Two leading Indian-origin Tamil political parties today joined President Mahinda Rajapaksa's United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government in Sri Lanka, increasing the number of members of legislators of the ruling coalition to 126 in the 225-seat parliament.

The Ceylon Workers' Congress, having seven legislators, joined this morning and its leader Arumugan Thondaman, was sworn in as Minister of Youth Empowerment and Socio Economic Development while two others were sworn in as Deputy Ministers.

The Up-Country People's Front (UPF) also jumped onto the bandwagon this morning and its leader, P Chandrasekaran was sworn in as Minister of Community Development and Social Inequity Eradication.

Ironically, both parties had supported former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in the last Presidential campaign, in which he was defeated by President Rajapakse by a narrow margin.

The development comes after a series of deliberations.

UNI

Related Stories

In Focus: Sri Lanka Crisis