Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Secretary MP Sagara Kariyawasam said yesterday that no member of the SLPP should announce or allude to who would be its Presidential candidate for the forthcoming election until its Polit Bureau decides on it.
Kariyawasam said this when we asked why the SLPP did not venture into announcing its Presidential candidate for the upcoming election at a time the Sajith Premadasa –led Opposition, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) had announced theirs.
He said that the SLPP first needed to understand the usual breakaway elements from its ranks and other political parties, a phenomenon currently prominent in the political landscape ahead of the election.
“We heard the tone of their voices during a meeting last Monday and had an idea about the amplitude of their master controls when a certain breakaway representative proposed forming what they described as a ‘broader alliance’ sans the members of the Rajapaksas, which they said ought to support the President from behind.”
The breakaway member, Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Prasanna Ranatunga, called upon the SLPP to play a behind-the-scene role at the upcoming election in this manner.
Kariyawasam said that breakaway politicians from the SLPP and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party were present at this meeting at the official residence of the President. SLPP founder Basil Rajapaksa had attended the meeting at the invitation of President Wickremesinghe out of courtesy.
At the meeting, Kariyawasam said that Basil Rajapaksa had told the breakaway group that if their plan was to undermine the SLPP and the Rajapaksas into submission, they had only burnt their boats. Rajapaksa said that it was up to the President to decide whether to deal with the SLPP or its breakaway groups.
When asked if he, as the SLPP Secretary, was planning to take any disciplinary action against those deviating from the party and suggesting its founder play a backseat role, Kariyawasam said, “These particular breakaway groups will soon comprehend that whether they leave or not, the voters of the SLPP will not abandon the party. Breakaway groups always give up on their policies for personal gain. They do so under the banner of saving the country or on similar lines.”
