Thondaman's CWC pulls out of Rajapaksa government

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 August 2007, 11:50 GMT]
Ceylon Workers Congress, an upcountry Tamil trade union and political party, led by Arumugan Thondaman, a Cabinet rank minister in Rajapaksa's United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) on Thursday said his party was withdrawing its support to Rajapaksa government due to political differences.

Mr. Arumugam Thondaman and his three junior ministers have tendered resignations, a CWC source told media in Colombo Thursday evening.

Rajapaksa government came to power with the support of extreme Sinhala nationalist forces, the JVP and the JHU, the all monks party.

Two Upcountry parties, the CWC and the Upcountry Peoples Front led by Periyasamy Chandrasekaran joined the UPFA government a year ago, in August 2006.

Two prominent members of the CWC had earlier crossed over to Rajapaksa government.

The CWC, the Indian origin Tamil workers trade union, was formed in 1950 by the late Soumiyamoorthy Thondaman, as an outgrowth of the Ceylon Indian Congress (CIC) which was formed in 1939.

Chronology: