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Palani Thigambaram

S. Udeiappan Palani Alagan Thigambaram (Tamil: எஸ். உடையப்பன் பழனி அழகன் திகாம்பரம்; born 10 January 1967) is a Sri Lankan politician and government minister. He is the leader of the National Union of Workers (NUW), a member of the Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) and United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG).

Early life

Thigambaram was born on 10 January 1967.[1]

Career

Thigambaram runs a textile business and is leader of the National Union of Workers (NUW).[2][3]

Thigambaram contested the 2004 provincial council election as one of the Up-Country People's Front's candidates in Nuwara Eliya District and was elected to the Central Provincial Council.[4] He was re-elected at the 2009 provincial council election, this times as a United National Front (UNF) candidate.[5]

Thigambaram contested the 2010 parliamentary election as one of the UNF candidates in Nuwara Eliya District and was elected to Parliament.[6][7] The NUW left the UNF alliance on 22 April 2010 after a dispute over National List seats.[8] Thigambaram continued to be part of the opposition as an independent MP.[9] In August 2013 Thigambaram and two others were charged with attempting to acquire 12 perches of land and a vehicle by force from their lawful owner but the case was dropped after the defendants offered to compensate the victim for the vehicle.[10]

Thigambaram was appointed Deputy Minister of National Languages and Social Integration on 21 August 2014.[11][12] He resigned from the UPFA government on 10 December 2014 to support common opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena at the presidential election.[13][14] After the election newly elected President Sirisena rewarded Thigambaram by appointing him Minister of Plantation Infrastructure Development.[15][16]

Thigambaram was one of the United National Front for Good Governance's candidates in Nuwara Eliya District at the 2015 parliamentary election. He was elected and re-entered Parliament.[17][18][19] He was sworn in as Minister of Hill Country, New Villages, Infrastructure and Community Development on 4 September 2015.[20][21][22]

Electoral history

Electoral history of Palani Thigambaram
Election Constituency Party Alliance Votes Result
2004 provincial[4] Nuwara Eliya District National Union of Workers Up-Country People's Front 18,387 Elected
2009 provincial[5] Nuwara Eliya District National Union of Workers United National Front 45,229 Elected
2010 parliamentary[6] Nuwara Eliya District National Union of Workers United National Front 39,490 Elected
2015 parliamentary[23] Nuwara Eliya District National Union of Workers United National Front for Good Governance 105,528 Elected

References

  1. ^ "Directory of Members: Palany Thigambaram". Parliament of Sri Lanka.
  2. ^ "New faces in Parliament" (PDF). The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 18 April 2010.
  3. ^ Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (23 April 2010). "Decline of Tamil representation outside the North and East". dbsjeyaraj.com.
  4. ^ a b "Results of Provincial Council Elections 2004" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 January 2009.
  5. ^ a b "Preferences Nuwara Eliya" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 December 2009. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  6. ^ a b "Parliamentary General Election - 2010 Nuwara Eliya Preferences" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2010. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  7. ^ "General Elections 2010 - Preferential Votes" (PDF). The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 11 April 2010.
  8. ^ Perera, Yohan (23 April 2010). "Workers Union leaves UNF". Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). Archived from the original on 26 April 2010. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  9. ^ Indrajith, Saman (23 April 2010). "NUW to back govt". Island, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  10. ^ Weerasooriya, Ananda (9 August 2013). "Bail approved for Digambaram". Ceylon Today.
  11. ^ Somawardana, Melissa (21 August 2014). "Prabha Ganesan and Digambaran sworn in as Deputy Ministers". News First.
  12. ^ "Two more Deputy Ministers take oaths before President in Si Lanka". Colombo Page. 21 August 2014. Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  13. ^ Ferdinando, Shamindra (11 December 2014). "Two deputy ministers quit; CWC suffers split". The Island (Sri Lanka).
  14. ^ Srinivasan, Meera (11 December 2014). "2 more MPs leave Rajapaksa government". The Hindu.
  15. ^ "New Cabinet ministers sworn in". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). 12 January 2015.
  16. ^ "New Cabinet takes oaths". The Nation (Sri Lanka). 12 January 2015. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  17. ^ "PART I : SECTION (I) — GENERAL Government Notifications PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS ACT, No. 1 OF 1981" (PDF). The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Extraordinary. 1928/03. 19 August 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015.
  18. ^ "Ranil tops with over 500,000 votes in Colombo". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). 19 August 2015.
  19. ^ "Preferential Votes". Daily News (Sri Lanka). 19 August 2015. Archived from the original on 20 August 2015.
  20. ^ "PART I : SECTION (I) — GENERAL Appointments & c., by the President" (PDF). The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Extraordinary. 1932/07. 14 September 2015.[permanent dead link‍]
  21. ^ "New Cabinet". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). 4 September 2015.
  22. ^ "The new Cabinet". Ceylon Today. 4 September 2015. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015.
  23. ^ Jayakody, Pradeep (28 August 2015). "The Comparison of Preferential Votes in 2015 & 2010". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka).