Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Arumugam Thondaman resigns again?


Various parties expressed views on newspaper reports that Minister of Livestock Development and Rural Affairs, Arumugam Thondaman has resigned from office.
''The story that Minister Thondaman has resigned is like the sun rising tomorrow. Whether or not Sri Ranga says that the sun will rise tomorrow it will definitely happen. It is a known fact. In the same way Thondaman will be at his Ministry tomorrow. That will not change as well.'' 

''He will be attending Cabinet meetings as usual. He has no ownership of land or a house in the Nuwara Eliya district. He lives on State lands off the people. All his assets are in Tamil Nadu. He has a big house there. He has a big business there.''
''We also saw how he and his good friend Karunanidi and Kanimozhi stayed with him at the Taj Samudra Hotel every time they came here. Now there is a force from which even they cannot escape. Now he wants to save his land so he is saying that he is not with the government, that he is angry with the government. That he has resigned from the government. It is all over the Indian news.'' 

''This was a planned action. The only way that Thondaman will leave this government is if there is a leadership change, if a different party comes into power. He has never been in the opposition for more than a year or two. That is because everyone in that party is chasing after resources. 

When Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe formed a government he was there for two years as a minister. Even if a Hela Urumaya or JVP government comes in, he will be a cabinet Minister. Now the people of Nuwara Eliya do not know the word parliamentarian, they only know him as Minister. This is something that will never happen. This is a tele-drama that is being enacted to save his property and assets in Tamil Nadu,'' said General Secretary of the Citizens' Front, MP J. Sri Ranga 

Nevertheless, several Sri Lankan English, Sinhalese and Tamil language newspapers reported today that Minister of Livestock Development and Rural Affairs Arumugam Thondaman had resigned from his ministerial portfolio. 

Some reports said that he had submitted his resignation to the President. However, some newspapers quoted the Presidential Secretariat as saying that such a letter had not been received.

When considering Arumugam Thondaman's history as a politician there are numerous occasions on which he has resigned as a Minister and changed his party allegiance.

Thondaman who contested and won a seat in parliament in the 1994 general election as part of a UNP led coalition switched allegiance to the People''s Alliance Government in 2000 and held the portfolio of Minister of Estate Infrastructure and Livestock.

In 2001, during the probationary government, he resigned from this portfolio. 

Subsequently, he held the position of Minister of Housing and Estate Infrastructure in the United National Front Government which came into power in December 2001.

In 2004 he joined the United People's Freedom Alliance Government and has been serving as a cabinet minister since then.

Considering the newspaper reports.. where will Arumugam Thondaman be in 2012?

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