{"id":150095,"date":"2015-09-03T11:40:22","date_gmt":"2015-09-03T06:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=150095"},"modified":"2015-09-03T11:42:02","modified_gmt":"2015-09-03T06:12:02","slug":"sampanthan-chosen-as-new-leader-of-the-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sampanthan-chosen-as-new-leader-of-the-opposition\/","title":{"rendered":"Sampanthan Chosen As New Leader Of The Opposition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ending a long debate on who will be the opposition leader, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya<\/span><\/a> informed parliament today that the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sampanthan<\/span><\/a> will lead the opposition in the house.<\/p>\n

\"sampanthan-colombo<\/a>While announcing his decision Jayasuriya noted that the SLFP and the UPFA which earlier clamoured for the position had not made any submissions on the issue.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

A. Amirthalingam, became the opposition leader in 1977 when his TULF relegated the SLFP to the third place in parliament.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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