4th lead (update)

Row erupts at TULF meeting

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 2003, 11:42 GMT]
The central working committee of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Sunday evening voted on a no confidence motion on the President Mr.V.Anandasangaree. The meeting ended in uproar. Jaffna TULF organiser Mr. T. Kulasingham, Vavuniya TULF organiser and TNA parliamentarian Mr. N. Raviraj were assaulted.

25 members out of the 36 working committee members who attended the meeting voted for the motion, Eleven either voted against the motion or abstained, party sources said.

Mr. Anandasangaree's supporters raised point of order under section 11.6 of TULF constitution.

The Secretary General of the TULF Mr.R.Sampanthan, TNA parliamentarian N. Raviraj and Joseph Pararajasingham said that the no-confidence motion passed is valid according to the procedures.

The TULF is the main constituent of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the other three constituent parties are All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) and Suresh wing of the Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Organization (EPRLF). The TNA contested the December 2001 parliamentary election with a manifesto that stated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is the sole representative of the Tamils in the North East, and won fifteen parliamentary seats including an MP under the national list.

Mr. Anandasangaree has been making several statements, including that the LTTE is not the sole representative of the Tamils of the NorthEast, that contradict the TNA's manifesto and the views of the party's rank and file, sources said

Recently district branches of Batticaloa and Amparai called Mr.Anandasangaree to step down from the post of president immediately or face expulsion.