Sellasamy goes back to CWC

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 October 2001, 14:13 GMT]
Mr. M.S Sellasamy, a veteran trade unionist joined the Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC) Friday amid moves to bring the main Tamil parties and unions in the island’s plantation sector under one umbrella to contest the general elections on 5 December. The CWC and the Upcountry People’s Front (UPF) are holding talks on forming a broad front to contest in districts outside the island’s northeast, particularly in the central province where there are substantial numbers of Tamils. “We are exploring the possibility of strengthening our position in the hill country by coming to an arrangement with the United National Party,” a CWC leader said.

“We may not get the number of seats we should get if all the hill country Tamils unite because groups like the National Union of Workers are planning to contest alone,” he added.

Mr. Sellasamy formed the Ceylon National Workers’ Congress after he quit as the general secretary of the CWC in 1994. CWC sources said that he will be made the Deputy President of the party and that he has indicated that he would disband the Ceylon National Workers’ Congress and withdraw several lawsuits brought by him against the CWC. Mr. Soumiyamoorthy Thondaman was the President of the CWC. The post remains vacant after his death in 1999.

The CWC was a major coalition partner of the People's Alliance regime until its collapse earlier this month. Mr. Sellasamy and five senior leaders of the CWC who split from the party following Thondaman's death entered Parliament as UNP MPs in October 2000.