The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) has appointed Batticaloa District MP Shanakiyan Ragul Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam as its new Parliamentary Group Leader, removing senior Jaffna legislator Sivagnanam Sritharan in a leadership overhaul that has exposed deepening factional divisions within Sri Lanka's main Tamil political party.
The appointment of the 35-year-old Shanakiyan, widely regarded as a close ally of Acting General Secretary M. A. Sumanthiran, comes after weeks of internal discord over Sritharan's voting record on the Constitutional Council, where he allegedly aligned with government positions on appointments involving former military commanders — a politically sensitive issue in Tamil-majority regions still grappling with the legacy of Sri Lanka's civil war.
While party leadership has sought to frame the transition as a deliberate effort to bring younger voices into senior positions, political observers and party insiders describe the move as the culmination of a protracted power struggle between the Sumanthiran and Sritharan factions.
Political Committee Orders Resignation, Sritharan Refuses
The leadership crisis intensified following a recent Political Committee meeting in Vavuniya, where party leader C. V. K. Sivagnanam, Sumanthiran, and other senior members unanimously adopted a resolution directing Sritharan to resign from the Constitutional Council.
According to multiple party sources who spoke to Jaffna Monitor, the resolution cited Sritharan's repeated voting alignment with the government, including on matters relating to militarisation and appointments of figures with military backgrounds — positions that contradict ITAK's long-standing advocacy for demilitarisation and civilian oversight in the Northern and Eastern provinces.
Sritharan publicly rejected the directive, asserting that the ITAK Political Committee lacks the authority to compel his resignation from the Constitutional Council, a constitutional body responsible for approving and recommending appointments to key independent commissions and to high state offices, including the judiciary and the Auditor General.
Sumanthiran had earlier publicly called for Sritharan's resignation from the council, stating it was necessary "to avoid further embarrassment" to the party, according to statements reported in local media.
Generational Shift or Factional Consolidation?
Shanakiyan, born in 1990, is the grandson of former Member of Parliament S. M. Rasamanickam and has served in Parliament since 2020. He was re-elected at the 2024 general election and has since established a distinct political profile within the party.
Shanakiyan’s role in leading the party’s campaign in Batticaloa District was widely regarded within ITAK as a key factor in the party’s victory there, making it the only Tamil-majority district in the Northern and Eastern Provinces to be won by the party at the last parliamentary election. All other Tamil-majority districts in the North and East were swept by the National People’s Power (NPP).
His appointment as Parliamentary Group Leader represents a significant elevation for a relatively junior MP and reinforces Sumanthiran's influence within the party's parliamentary wing.
