Sri Lanka govt's majority slashed as party defects

COLOMBO, Aug 2 (Reuters) The Sri Lankan government's parliamentary majority was cut to the bare minimum today after a Tamil party defected, leaving it dependent on hardline Buddhists and Marxists for survival.

The Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) said its leader, Minister of Youth Empowerment Arumugan Thondaman, and four deputy ministers in President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government had resigned after an unspecified disagreement.

The CWC's exit leaves the government with 113 seats in the 225-seat parliament, the minimum number required for a working majority, and comes as the island's fractured opposition seeks to build an alliance to topple it.

''We have pulled out because we had a misunderstanding with the government,'' said R Yogarajan, vice president of a party that represents Tamil tea estate workers, who were first brought to Sri Lanka in the 19th century by then colonial ruler Britain.

''Our party felt insulted due to some reason ... which we are not disclosing,'' he added. ''For the moment there is no chance of our patching up.'' Rajapaksa is already dependent on the support of a hardline Buddhist monk party which wants him to destroy his Tamil Tiger rebel foes as the island plunges deeper into a new chapter of a two-decade civil war that has killed nearly 70,000 people since 1983.

Analysts say much will now depend on whether the JVP hardline Marxist party continues to back the government on crucial votes from outside the coalition as the withdrawal of their support could lead to early elections.

''It hinges on whether the JVP would want the government to fall at this time, and the indications are the JVP ... would not want (the) government to fall because it could mean going for elections,'' said Jehan Perera of the non-partisan advocacy group the National Peace Council.

''If they withdraw their support, it leaves the government vulnerable to further defections,'' he added.

Reuters KK DB2032