Chelliah Rajadurai (; born 27 July 1927) is a

Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, form the plurality in the Eastern Province a ...

politician and former government minister, Member of Parliament and Mayor of Batticaloa. Rajadurai was born on 27 July 1927. Rajadurai was a journalist and a member of the editorial staff of the ''Sutantiran'' weekly newspaper. Rajadurai was elected to elected to

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

at the 1956 parliamentary election as the

Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK; ; , ) is a Sri Lankan political party which represents the Sri Lankan Tamil minority in the country. It was originally founded in 1949 as a breakaway faction of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC). In 1972, ITA ...

's (Federal Party) candidate for

Batticaloa Batticaloa (, ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu'', ; , ''Maḍakalapuwa'', ) is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the Batticaloa District. The city is the seat of the Eastern Univers ...

. He was re-elected at the March 1960, July 1960,

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

and

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

parliamentary elections. He was the

Tamil United Liberation Front The Tamil United Liberation Front (, ) is a political party in Sri Lanka. Formation On 4 May 1972, several Tamil political groups, including the Federal Party (ITAK), Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), and All Ceylon Tamil Congress formed the Tami ...

candidate in Batticaloa at the 1977 parliamentary election and was re-elected. In March 1979 he

defected In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, changing sides in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, defection involves abandoning a person, ca ...

to the

United National Party The United National Party (UNP; , ) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Sri Lanka. Founded in 1946, the party was one of Sri Lanka's two main parties for several decades. The UNP has served as the country's ruling party ...

led

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

and was rewarded by being appointed Minister of Regional Development and Hindu Cultural Affairs. He was later appointed Sri Lankan High Commissioner to

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. Rajadurai became the first Mayor of Batticaloa in 1967. He was unseated the next year. Rajadurai was still politically active in April 2012. As of June 2021, Rajadurai is retired and lives between Malaysia, India and Sri Lanka.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajadurai, C. 1927 births Living people Government ministers of Sri Lanka High commissioners of Sri Lanka to Malaysia Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi politicians Mayors of Batticaloa Members of the 3rd Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 4th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 5th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 6th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 7th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 8th Parliament of Sri Lanka People from British Ceylon Tamil people Sri Lankan Tamil people Sri Lankan journalists Tamil politicians Tamil United Liberation Front politicians United National Party politicians Urban development ministers of Sri Lanka

See also

References