Tamil Rights
2015-09-07 / .

Tamil leader R. Sampanthan is the Opposition Leader of of the Sri Lankan Parliament

Ending a long debate on who will be the opposition leader, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya informed parliament that the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sampanthan will lead the opposition in the house.TNA leader R. Sampanthan the Opposition Leader of the Eighth Parliament of Sri Lanka will become the first Tamil in 37 years to occupy the prestigious position.


UPFA which earlier clamoured for the position had not made any submissions on the issue.

A UPFA leader meanwhile said that there was an inside deal with the involvement of some powerful politicians in the Sirisena and the Rajapaksa factions in ensuring a safe passage for Sampanthan to become the opposition leader.

A letter which was sent to the President with the signatures of 57 UPFA MP's requesting Kumara Welgama to be appointed as the opposition leader was disregarded by Sirisena.

A. Amirthalingam, became the opposition leader in 1977 when his TULF relegated the SLFP to the third place in parliament.

The TNA, which holds 16 seats in parliament, was demanding the post since the UNP and the SLFP came to an agreement to form a national government.

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