MR to be de facto President if Pohottuwa wins next Presidential Election: General Secretary

The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) yesterday asserted that if it won the next Presidential election, their candidate would ensure that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa ruled the country.

“If our candidate wins at the next Presidential election, he will make sure that the former President is the one who is running the country,” SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam told. He said that the SLPP was working on that basis, and that it was prepared to face any upcoming election.

Responding to allegations made by SLPP member and former Southern Provincial Councillor Ajith Prasanna, to the effect that there was a split in the SLPP regarding whom to support as their Presidential candidate, former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa or former Minister Basil Rajapaksa, the SLPP General Secretary denied any such division in the party.

“There is no such division in the SLPP. We follow former President Rajapaksa, and work to bring him back to power. The party will support whoever he decides to choose as our Presidential candidate. The former President alone will be making that decision,” Kariyawasam said.

Concerning the claim by SLPP member Ajith Prasanna that Basil Rajapaksa had shunned the former for his support of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa: “Ajith Prasanna is of no significance to the SLPP. He may have received SLPP membership, but anyone can go to our party office and register themselves as a member of the SLPP. Prasanna has held no post in the SLPP, and I don’t think Basil Rajapaksa is even concerned about him.”