MR should be defeated :JVP

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 been pushed into the present political chaos,” he told a news conference. He said former President Mahinda Rajapaksa did not allow anyone to succeed him and converted the SLFP into a ‘Rajapaksa party’. “After the two terms of office of Presidency of Chandrika Bandaranaike, Rajapaksa was able to become the President. Later, he amended the Constitution after holding two terms of Presidency so he could become the President for a third time,” Mr. Dissanayake said. He said Rajapaksa still attempted to grab the power by contesting for Premiership and said if the SLFP to be saved, people should vote against him. “We urge the SLFPers to join us to defeat Rajapaksa. Mahinda’s rise is the end of the SLFP. Today the SLFP is not controlled by its Central Committee but by a small faction. Rajapaksa should be defeated the same way President Sirisena wanted,” he said.