Day: 16 July 2015

It’s official, there is no support to either the UPFA or its former leader and the country’s immediately preceding President by the island’s incumbent President. President Maithripala Sirisena who’s also the present Leader of the UPFA coalition and its main constituent party the SLFP, addressing the nation on Tuesday said that he was against former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the immediately preceding leader of the UPFA and SLFP, from contesting the 17 August 2015 general election. He however, had ultimately wilted under pressure exerted by a section of his coalition members to…

The government of the SLFP and UNP headed by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had failed to take effective steps to put an end to ‘Rajapaksa political culture’, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) said today. JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said the defeated Rajapaksa politics had been revived, while the new government was focused on achieving their narrow political gains. “They should have wiped out the Rajapaksa politics, when he began the revival, with spreading racism. If this need was accomplished earlier, President Sirisena would not have…

By Akitha Perera The lid would be blown off many of the former government’s illegal operations within the next three months, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday. Addressing a UNP rally in Bulathsinhala, the Prime Minister asked why the supporters of Rajapaksa regime were scared of facing investigations and proving their innocence if they had nothing to hide. The Prime Minister said: “Some of the UPFA candidates have a history of snatching gold chains for a living. We will put an end to the sordid practice of nominating chain snatchers…

We will not join an alliance now – Suresh Premachandran ? There have been rumours that the TNA would join the UNP alliance –The United National Front for Good Governance? A. No. We are actually waiting until the election is over to decide. We will not form an alliance with any political party. After the election we will discuss with the party that comes into power. At the last election we joined the alliance of President Maithripala Sirisena but now I am not sure what has happened to him with…

The Malwatte Chapter Mahanayake, the Most Venerable Thibbatuwave Siddartha Sri Sumangala Thera told Western Province Chief Minister Prasanna Ranatunga that, though the Sri Lanka Freedom Party(SLFP) led governments had ruled the country for the last 20 years, no proper development had trickled down to the villages. The Mahanayake Thera said the people of Hambantota had pressing needs besides a port and an airport. He said that as a result the people virtually took to the streets to unseat the last government . He said, “Whenever the SLFP contested in alliance…

How a Rajapaksa comeback would shake up Sri Lankan politics Sri Lanka’s wartime president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, is set to contest in the August parliamentary election. But how would the return of the long-time leader impact the nation’s politics? DW spoke to analyst Alan Keenan. A coalition – formally headed by Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena – has nominated Rajapaksa to run in the upcoming parliamentary polls, due on August 17. The 69-year-old, considered a war hero by the country’s majority Sinhalese for ending a three-decade civil war in 2009, will…

By Amrit Muttukumaru – This analysis is written in good faith in the interest of the country and the United National Party. Its objective is to demonstrate that all the brouhaha and panic in the aftermath of the Mahinda Rajapaksa nomination is misplaced if only the UNP asserts itself to its potential. For this to materialize its response must be principled. The ‘old fox’ JRJ rightly castigated for foisting on us the monstrous executive presidency, had a lot going for him in some ways. He introduced proportional representation to shield the…

Corrupt and immoral political ethic requires drastic change By Saliya Pieris The famous American Senator Daniel Webster, though a courageous politician, was notorious for accepting gifts and favours from different people, so much so that even on his death bed it is said that an old gentleman turned up to offer the household a large roll of dollar bills. In his book Profiles in Courage, John F Kennedy observed that it never occured to Webster that obtaining gifts and favours was unethical or wrong but that he thought that it…