Kanagasabai Ganeshalingam (3 January 1938 – 4 December 2006) was 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. He was

Mayor of Colombo The Mayor of Colombo is the elected head of the Colombo Municipal Council. The post was created in 1866 when the Colombo Municipal Council was established by the Legislative Council of Ceylon. The mayor is assisted by the deputy mayor and a Munic ...

Early life and family

Ganeshalingam was born on 3 January 1938 in

Puloly Puloly () is a region in Jaffna Peninsula, Northern Sri Lanka. It is located approximately 30 km from City of Jaffna. Its north part is Point Pedro town. Some scholars suggest that region was named after several scholars lived there (mean ...

in northern

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. He was the son of Kanagasabai, a proctor, and Parvathipillai. He was educated at the

Hartley College Hartley College ( ''Hāṭlik Kallūri'') is a provincial school in Point Pedro, Sri Lanka. Founded in 1838 by British Methodist missionaries, it is one of Sri Lanka's oldest schools. The school is named after Wesleyan priest and missionary Rev. ...

and

S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia (abbreviated as STC), is a fee-levying Anglican selective entry boys' private school in Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by James Chapman, the first Anglican Bishop of Colombo, in 1851, it was founded as ...

. After school he joined the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univ ...

where he was an elected officer of the student union. Ganeshalingam married Yamuna, daughter of Dr. Sri Pathmanathan. They had a son (Kandeepan) and a daughter (Menaka). Ganeshalingam was a Hindu.

Career

After university Ganeshalingam joined Ford Rhodes Thornton & Co as an accountancy student. He then entered business. He was director of the Tobacco Corporation and several other state organisations. He was also chairman of Ceylon Oxygen. Ganeshalingam joined 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 ...

(UNP) in 1960. He was appointed treasurer of the UNP in 1989. He was later elected to

Colombo Municipal Council The Colombo Municipal Council is the municipal governing body of Colombo, the largest city and financial centre in Sri Lanka. It consists of a directly elected executive Mayor of Colombo, and elected 119 municipal councilors. The council was f ...

as a UNP candidate. He served as Deputy Mayor of Colombo between July 1991 and the end of 1993. He was acting Mayor of Colombo from January 1994 to June 1996 before serving as

between June 1996 and March 1997. He resigned from the UNP in January 1997. He then contested the 1997 election as a candidate of an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

group backed by the

People's Alliance People's Alliance may refer to: * People's Alliance ( ''Volksunie''), Belgian political party which split in 2001 into the Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie and Spirit * People's Alliance (Bulgaria), a Bulgarian party from 1921 to 1923 * People's Alliance ( ...

. He was re-elected to CMC and served as Leader of the Opposition from May 1997 to April 2002.

Death

Ganeshalingam died in Colombo on 4 December 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ganeshalingam, K. 1938 births 2006 deaths Alumni of Hartley College Alumni of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia Alumni of the University of Ceylon Mayors of Colombo Politicians from Northern Province, Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Hindus Sri Lankan Tamil people Sri Lankan accountants Sri Lankan businesspeople Tamil politicians United National Party politicians