After weeks of deliberating on who the presidential candidate would be for the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, the party was forced to make its announcement following the withdrawal of business tycoon Dhammika Perera who voluntarily backed out.
Perera in a letter seen by the media addressed to Sagara Kariyawasam, the General Secretary of the SLPP, says that due to personal reasons he no longer intends to be in the running for the Presidential post. The move has taken many by surprise since Perera himself had told the media only weeks ago that he was waiting on the SLPP to give him the nomination.
His exit from the running has put the SLPP in an awkward position demonstrating that the party had little clout to nominate someone suitable. During the last two weeks, several party members openly vouched for their support to Ranil Wickremesinghe. 92 such members attended a meeting at the Presidential Secretariat where they endorsed Wickremesinghe for the post.
Bringing the split of #SriLanka's two years old ruling coalition to the open, MP @RajapaksaNamal, son of @PresRajapaksa and nephew of @GotabayaR was officially endorsed by @PodujanaParty
— LankaFiles (@lankafiles) August 7, 2024
general secretary Sagara Kariyawasam as presidential candidate for the 21 September election pic.twitter.com/rr0tdD3mBZ
The new entrant is a scion of the contentious Rajapaksa clan, Namal who also has a sullied reputation for several reasons. Rajapaksa like the father has a slew of allegations. An investigation by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), found that Namal had received more than a million euros in payoffs from Australian medical firm Aspen. Namal has denied the allegations, as has Aspen.
In 2016 Namal was arrested on charges of money laundering, The case against Namal Rajapaksa was over an agreement signed with a real estate company while his father Mahinda was still in power. The company leased state-owned land in the heart of Colombo for a mixed-use development plan valued at $650 million, including residential skyscrapers, a luxury hotel, and shopping. The project grew contentious after opposition party members accused figures of the Rajapaksa administration of accepting secret payments to secure the land deal.
Namal in the past has also denied he or his family had anything to do with the murder of former Sri Lanka rugby player Wasim Thajudeen. In an interview with the BBC Sinhala Service, Namal said he and his family were close to Thajudeen and had often visited his house while he and Thajudeen were also in school. He said his family has been blamed unfairly. A vehicle owned by Sri Lanka’s former first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa has been linked to the murder of a Sri Lankan national rugby player Wasim Thajudeen. Three members of Sri Lanka's former Presidential Security Division (PSD) are suspected to be responsible for the murder, the Sri Lankan media reported. Mahinda Rajapaksa's younger son Yositha, who played alongside the murdered rugby player, is rumored to have been involved in the abduction of the rugby player.
Namal was also once refused a visa to enter to the US. He said he was blocked from entering the United States after spending time in Moscow as an election observer. "I won't make my Houston Flight as US Officials instruct them to not let me board. Sure it has nothing to do with my name, being part of Sri Lankan opposition, or my travel from Russia," he tweeted.
