President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and former parliamentary colleagues of the late CWC leader Arumugam Thondaman paid their last respects as his remains lay in state at the Assembly Hall of Parliament today from 10.45 a.m. to 11.30 a.m.
Diplomats and staff of Parliament also paid their last respects to the former parliamentarian.
The Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) leader and Minister of Community Empowerment and Estate Infrastructure passed away on Tuesday following a heart attack . He was 56.
Arumugam Thondaman was born on 29 May 1964 and was an old boy of Royal College. He was the grandson of the founder of the CWC Saumyamoorthy Thondaman and first entered Parliament in 1994 and has represented the Nuwara Eliya district consecutively since then.
Many have paid tribute to the CWC leader with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa saying he is deeply saddened by the untimely demise of Thondaman. “ He served his community with dedication and stood for the rights of plantation workers,” the President said sending his condolences to his family and & friends.
UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe too expressed his sympathies to the family of Arumugam Thondaman. “As a leader who served his people faithfully, his absence will be felt across communities in Sri Lanka,” he said.
His funeral will take place on Sunday 31 May at Nuwara Eliya.
