The leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) R Sampanthan has been admitted to hospital with “tiredness”, reports the Daily Mirror.
A family member was quoted by Daily Mirror as stating that Mr Sampanthan fell ill on Thursday evening.
“The main symptom was said to be tiredness,” said the family member. “He has had long discussions with the party machinery in Trincomalee and this may have led to being tired.”
Mr Sampanthan, who is 84 years old, has been the leader of the TNA since its formation in 2001. He first entered Sri Lanka’s parliament in 1977, on the TULF platform of a separate state for Tamils in the North-East. He served until 1983, when members of the TULF resigned from parliament in protest. Despite contesting in consecutive elections since then, Mr Sampanthan failed to win any seats. He briefly entered parliament in 1997 after the assassination of TULF MP and reported political rival A Thangathurai.