Exit of two CWC members:

No impact, says Deputy Minister

M.P. Muttiah

The exit of two members from the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) would not have any impact on the plantation workers’ support to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, said Ceylon Workers’ Congress President and Estate Infrastructure Deputy Minister Muthu Sivalingam.

The CWC President said that there were people like A.Aziz and V.K. Vellayan who left the Congress since 1954. Another five left in 2000. But they could not shake the Organization.

The CWC is strong as it always was, he added.

Muthu Sivalingam added that when R. Yogarajan was the party Political Adviser, he wanted it to extend support to Ranil Wickremesinghe in 2005. His advice only resulted in a wastage of nearly 500,000 plantation votes.

Commenting on the statement that there are no place for the workers in the CWC, the Deputy Minister said several senior officials and himself lived in line rooms. He doubted whether those two who left had such experience.

He said nobody could deny the fact that plantations had seen considerable progress under President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The CWC has submitted several development programs to the President and they were included in the Mahinda Chinthana.

The Deputy Minister added they should have negotiated without leaving the party.

However, when considering their political future he only felt sympathy for them not harboured ill-will against them, he added.