Subaiya Nadesapillai also known as S. Nadesan was the son-in-law

Son-in-Law

Son-in-Law was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and an influential sire, especially for sport horses.The National Horseracing Museum says that Son-in-Law is "probably the best and most distinguished stayer this country has ever known." Described as "one of the principal influences for stamina in...

 of Ponnambalam Ramanathan

Ponnambalam Ramanathan

Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan, KCMG, KC was a Solicitor-General and Tamil political leader in Sri Lanka.-Early life:...

 and a Tamil senator from Jaffna

Jaffna

Jaffna is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna district located on a peninsula of the same name. Jaffna is approximately six miles away from Kandarodai which served as a famous emporium in the Jaffna peninsula from classical...

, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

. He was a United National Party

United National Party

The United National Party, often referred to as the UNP ), , is a political party in Sri Lanka. It currently is the main opposition party in Sri Lanka and is headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe...

 candidate and defeated Samuel Chelvanayakam

S. J. V. Chelvanayakam

Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament. He was the political leader and father figure of the Sri Lankan Tamil community for more than two decades...

 in the 1952 Jaffna elections, after losing to him in the 1947 elections from Kankesanthurai

Kankesanthurai Electoral District

Kankesanthurai Electoral District was an electoral district of Sri Lanka between August 1947 and February 1989. The district was named after the town of Kankesanthurai in Jaffna District, Northern Province. The 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka introduced the proportional representation electoral...

. He was a defender of a political solution to the Sri Lanka conflict

Sri Lankan civil war

The Sri Lankan Civil War was a conflict fought on the island of Sri Lanka. Beginning on July 23, 1983, there was an on-and-off insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam , a separatist militant organization which fought to create an independent Tamil state named Tamil...

but left the UNP when it embraced a Sinhala-only campaign. He was a member of the state council, the parliament, and later became a minister.