Colombo, Feb 12 (NIA) – Sri Lanka’s former Tamil Tiger rebel leader, Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, has formed a new political party in order to voice the concerns of minority Tamils in the island country, a local media report said Sunday.
Muralitharan who broke away from the rebel outfit in 2004 and was sworn in as a deputy minister in the previous government, blamed the main Tamil political party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) for not doing enough to represent the concerns of the Tamils.
He formed the ‘Tamil National Freedom Front Party’ with the assistance of his close members.
Muralitharan was the former Tamil Tiger rebel leader in the eastern province and broke away from the faction in 2004, weakening the outfit, more popularly known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Soon after leaving the LTTE he had formed Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP), a breakaway faction of the LTTE.
After giving up arms and entering politics, he was appointed as a National List Member of Parliament for the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), the party of former President Mahinda Rajapakse in 2008 and sworn in as Minister of National Integration on March 9, 2009. He later joined the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the largest party in the UPFA.
Muralitharan is currently facing a corruption probe in the island country for the alleged misuse of state vehicles.
