Ethnicity Sri Lankan Tamil | Name D. Siddarthan | |
Succeeded by Kanapathippillai Tharumalingam Political party People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam Other political
affiliations Tamil National Alliance | ||
Dharmalingam Siddarthan (Tamil: தர்மலிங்கம் சித்தார்த்தன்) is a Sri Lankan Tamil militant turned politician and Member of Parliament. He is the current leader of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), a member of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
Contents
Early life
Siddarthan is the son of V. Dharmalingam, Member of Parliament for Uduvil. Siddarthan became involved in Tamil nationalist politics in the 1960s but by the 1970s he had become involved in with militant groups. He was one of the founding members of the Tamil New Tigers and in 1977 founded the London branch of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In 1980 LTTE chairman Uma Maheswaran split from the LTTE and founded the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE). Siddarthan joined PLOTE. In 1982 Siddarthan, with the assistance of Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students, went to Syria to receive military training from Palestinian militant groups. Siddarthan took over leadership of the PLOTE following the assassination of Uma Maheswaran in 1989.
Career
Siddarthan was one of the Democratic People's Liberation Front's (DPLF) (the political wing of PLOTE) candidates in Jaffna District at the 1989 parliamentary election but the DPLF failed to win any seats in Parliament. He was one of the DPLF's candidates for Vanni District at the 1994 parliamentary election. He was elected and entered Parliament. He was not re-elected at the 2000 parliamentary election. He was however re-elected at the 2001 parliamentary election. He failed to get re-elected at the 2004 parliamentary election after the DPLF failed to win any seats in Parliament. He contested the 2010 parliamentary election in Vanni District but again the DPLF failed to win any seats in Parliament.
Following the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009 the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora started exerting pressure on Sri Lankan Tamil political parties to unite and so PLOTE joined the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the largest political group representing Sri Lankan Tamils. Siddarthan contested the 2013 provincial council election as one of the TNA's candidates in Jaffna District and was elected to the Northern Provincial Council. After the election he was appointed to assist the Chief Minister on vocational training, entrepreneurial development, small and medium enterprises. He took his oath as provincial councillor in front of PLOTE Secretary and All Island Justice Peace Subramanian Sathananthan at Chunnakam on 14 October 2013.
Siddarthan was one of the TNA's candidates in Jaffna District at the 2015 parliamentary election. He was elected and re-entered Parliament.