While a confident President Mahinda Rajapaksa Thursday kicked off his Sri Lanka Freedom Party’s (SLFP) campaign for local polls, party leader and former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, skipped the event and fired another salvo in the again deepening rift between the two.
Addressing a packed forum of local council election candidates at the Sugathadasa Stadium, President Rajapakse said the co-operation of local bodies was required to develop the country through the Mahinda Chinthanaya (Mahinda’s thoughts) – the title of his election manifesto last year.
“Every candidate should go from house to house and from village to village to educate the people on the Mahinda Chinthanaya”, he said.
“I will never forget that it was local government members who helped me to first become the Opposition Leader then Prime Minister and later President of the country when some party leaders were sleeping at home”, Mr. Rajapakse said, taking a swipe at SLFP chief Kumaratunga.
However most at the conference were unaware of the latest spate in the ever widening rift between Rajapaksa and Kumaratunga, who was President for ten years and who had resisted Rajapakse’s appointment to the SLFP ticket.
Ahead of last week’s conference, Kumaratunga, in a hard-hitting letter to the SLFP General Secretary, charged that the gathering was organised without seeking her permission.
Explaining reasons for not attending the conference, Ms. Kumaratunga, said she was simply invited just a day and a half ahead of the event: “I was puzzled when I got a couple of lines, inviting me for the ceremony after inviting some 2000 local council candidates.”
“As a leader who respects party discipline and policies, I cannot accept your invitation”, she said in a letter to General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena.
However her latest salvo comes a day after Ms. Kumaratunga insisted on the need to work amicably and in a determined manner when she addressed a meeting in Gampaha ahead of the local polls. President Mahinda Rajapakse too insisted on the need to work together.
Ms. Kumaratunga said she ordered a meeting of party organisers on February 28, but the Party headquarters had cancelled it without her knowledge. Ms. Kumaratunga said President Rajapaksa assigned numerous duties to all the leaders of the party while sidelining her.
Accusing President Rajapaksa for violating party rules, she said her late father and mother, SWRD Bandaranaike and Sirimavo Bandaranaike led the party while respecting human values.
On his part, during his address President Rajapakse assured the SLFP candidates there was a brighter future for them under his leadership. He asked them to take his case as a good example of how a young local councillor could end up being the President of the country.
Meanwhile, the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which supported President Rajapaksa in the Presidential polls, has been canvassing on the grounds that voting for their party, as opposed to the SLFP, will also ensure support for the President.
JVP Propaganda Secretary Wimal Weerawansa told a rally at Piliyandala on Wednesday that if President Rajapaksa was to steer the country ahead, the grassroots level power should be handled by the JVP.
This is despite the KVP also denouncing the government delegation to the peace talks on the grounds that they acted contradictory to the agreement between President Rajapaksa and the JVP.
In other news Sri Lanka’s two major parties, the UNP and UPFA, last week faced fiercely contested legal battles in regard to rejection of their nomination lists by election officers for the forthcoming local government polls.
The contested rejections were mainly over disputed questions concerning allegedly underaged youth candidates in the nomination lists of UNP for the Colombo Municipal Council and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent of the UPFA, for the Gampaha Municipal Council.
Objections had been raised to the nomination lists of the two main parties by the JVP, who used this also in their campaigning.
Mr. Weerawansa told the rally that while they were going round the country with a separate plan to develop each Local Government area, other political parties were going to courts as they could not even file nomination papers properly.
“How could one expect such people to develop the villages when they can not even file nominations properly?” he asked.
Addressing a packed forum of local council election candidates at the Sugathadasa Stadium, President Rajapakse said the co-operation of local bodies was required to develop the country through the Mahinda Chinthanaya (Mahinda’s thoughts) – the title of his election manifesto last year.
“Every candidate should go from house to house and from village to village to educate the people on the Mahinda Chinthanaya”, he said.
“I will never forget that it was local government members who helped me to first become the Opposition Leader then Prime Minister and later President of the country when some party leaders were sleeping at home”, Mr. Rajapakse said, taking a swipe at SLFP chief Kumaratunga.
However most at the conference were unaware of the latest spate in the ever widening rift between Rajapaksa and Kumaratunga, who was President for ten years and who had resisted Rajapakse’s appointment to the SLFP ticket.
Ahead of last week’s conference, Kumaratunga, in a hard-hitting letter to the SLFP General Secretary, charged that the gathering was organised without seeking her permission.
Explaining reasons for not attending the conference, Ms. Kumaratunga, said she was simply invited just a day and a half ahead of the event: “I was puzzled when I got a couple of lines, inviting me for the ceremony after inviting some 2000 local council candidates.”
“As a leader who respects party discipline and policies, I cannot accept your invitation”, she said in a letter to General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena.
However her latest salvo comes a day after Ms. Kumaratunga insisted on the need to work amicably and in a determined manner when she addressed a meeting in Gampaha ahead of the local polls. President Mahinda Rajapakse too insisted on the need to work together.
Ms. Kumaratunga said she ordered a meeting of party organisers on February 28, but the Party headquarters had cancelled it without her knowledge. Ms. Kumaratunga said President Rajapaksa assigned numerous duties to all the leaders of the party while sidelining her.
Accusing President Rajapaksa for violating party rules, she said her late father and mother, SWRD Bandaranaike and Sirimavo Bandaranaike led the party while respecting human values.
On his part, during his address President Rajapakse assured the SLFP candidates there was a brighter future for them under his leadership. He asked them to take his case as a good example of how a young local councillor could end up being the President of the country.
Meanwhile, the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which supported President Rajapaksa in the Presidential polls, has been canvassing on the grounds that voting for their party, as opposed to the SLFP, will also ensure support for the President.
JVP Propaganda Secretary Wimal Weerawansa told a rally at Piliyandala on Wednesday that if President Rajapaksa was to steer the country ahead, the grassroots level power should be handled by the JVP.
This is despite the KVP also denouncing the government delegation to the peace talks on the grounds that they acted contradictory to the agreement between President Rajapaksa and the JVP.
In other news Sri Lanka’s two major parties, the UNP and UPFA, last week faced fiercely contested legal battles in regard to rejection of their nomination lists by election officers for the forthcoming local government polls.
The contested rejections were mainly over disputed questions concerning allegedly underaged youth candidates in the nomination lists of UNP for the Colombo Municipal Council and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent of the UPFA, for the Gampaha Municipal Council.
Objections had been raised to the nomination lists of the two main parties by the JVP, who used this also in their campaigning.
Mr. Weerawansa told the rally that while they were going round the country with a separate plan to develop each Local Government area, other political parties were going to courts as they could not even file nomination papers properly.
“How could one expect such people to develop the villages when they can not even file nominations properly?” he asked.
