Following the announcement of the retirement of ITAK party leader Mavai Senathirajah, Shritharan applied for the leadership position in December 2023. He was the favored candidate since he was based in Jaffna and was elected leader of the ITAK on 21 January 2024 defeating M. A. Sumanthiran and S. Yogeswaran; having gained 184 votes to Sumanthiran's 134. Following the appointment, he paid respects at the Kanagapuram Thuyilum Illam (cemetery for fallen Tamil Tigers).[15][16]
Assassination attempt
On 7 March 2011, Shritharan was traveling in a van from Kilinochchi to Colombo to attend a meeting of Parliament the following day.[2] Traveling with Sritharan in the van were four others including a police guard.[2] At around 5.30pm the van was on the A12 highway near Nochchiyagama, Anuradhapura District, when three men standing by a white van parked on the roadside pulled out guns and started shooting at Shritharan's van.[17][18] The men also threw hand grenades at the van.[2] Sritharan's police guard fired back, forcing the attackers to flee in their white van which had no number plates.[2] No one was seriously injured in the incident.[2] Shritharan has blamed the Eelam People's Democratic Party, a government backed paramilitary group, for the assassination attempt.[2] The EPDP has been implicated in a number of assassinations.[19][20]SpeakerChamal Rajapaksa ordered an investigation into the assassination attempt.[2][21]
