'Sangaree issue' to be decided Sunday

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 November 2003, 21:05 GMT]
Thirty-six member central working committee of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), a major constituent of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will be meeting Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Colombo headquarters of the TULF to discuss the prevailing political situation and to decide on its leadership issue, party sources said.

A motion to oust the incumbent president of the TULF Mr.V.Ananadasangaree has been included as the main item in the agenda, which has been circulated among the committee members, TULF sources said.

Mr.Anandasangaree is currently holding the post of President of the TULF since the demise of Mr.M.Sivasithambaram. Mr.Anandasangaree is one of the Jaffna district TNA parliamentarians.

The branches of the TULF in Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Jaffna and Ampara districts have already passed resolutions demanding Mr.Anandasangaree to quit from the post of president or face expulsion for making statements contradicting the TNA manifesto of 2001 December general election. He has been accused for making public statements stating that the LTTE could not be considered the sole representatives of Tamils. TNA manifesto states that the LTTE is the sole representative of Tamils, sources said.

However, Mr.Anandasangaree has said the resolutions passed by TULF branches demanding his removal from the post of president are illegal, as the meeting where these decisions were taken had not been constituted according to laid down regulations, sources said.

The TULF was formed in 1972 at a conference held in Trincomalee Town Hall where 'Thanthai' S.J.V.Chelvanayakam of the Federal Party (FP), Mr.M.Sivasithambaram of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) and Mr.C. Suntharalingam of Adanka Thamilar Munnani (ATM) participated with their leading members. Mr.Anandasangaree was in the ACTC at that time, sources said.