by

Zacki Jabbar

Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa has thrown his weight fully behind his once estranged leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has declared publicly for the first time that he is ready to challenge Mahinda Rajapaksa at the next Presidential Election expected to be held in January 2015,

Premadasa, who only recently was re-appointed Deputy Leader of the UNP told a gathering of over 7,000 of the 12,000 polling booth agents of the party, all clad in green T-Shirts and caps at the Hyde Park in Colombo on Tuesday, that he would work to ensure that Wickremesinghe defeated Rajapaksa and ended ten years of tyranny and unprecedented economic hardships.

“Whatever disagreements I had with the leader are a thing of the past.The UNP has united as never before, for the sake of the country and its people, so that they may live in peace, dignity and prosperity “, Premadasa emphasized adding that he would work in a similar manner that his father Ranasinghe Premadasa had done to help J.R.Jayawardena record a landslide victory in 1977 and reduce the SLFP to a mere seven seats.

Some were trying to dismiss the UNP’s excellent performance at the last Uva Provincial Council Poll, but it was indicative of the thinking of the people across the country who were fed up with the Rajapaksa dictatorship, corruption at the highest levels benefitting cronies of the regime, unbearable cost of living and an unprecedented crime wave which has left the people in an eternal state of fear, when they should be walking the streets as free men and women with the end of a near thirty year war,he noted.

The Deputy Leader said that just like the valiant solidiers who had won the war, they would leave no stone unturned to ensure that all Sri Lankans truly enjoyed the benefits of their efforts and not just those in the “family.”

Leader of the UNP Ranil Wickremesinghe announced that he was ready to take on President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the next Presidential Election and defeat him, amidst wild cheers of the over 7000 polling agents and organizers who had thronged Hyde Park .

Handing over letters of appointment to 12,000 UNP Polling agents and organizers who would head committees of 35 activists to campaign in each of the electorates countrywide, Wickremesinghe urged them to go back home and tell their fellow villagers that the elephant had risen and was marching majestically to defeat the dictatorial and corrupt Rajapaksa regime.

“Who is the traitor. Is it me or Mahinda Rajapaksa who put the man who led the charge against the LTTE, General Sarath Fonseka in prison and denied him of his voting rights, while conferring special privileges on senior LTTE leaders such as Kumaran Pathmanathan and Karuna Amman who is not only a Minister but also the Vice President of the SLFP ? When I recently met the office bearers of the UNP UK branch in London, a picture of that meeting was published in the government media claiming that they were members of the Tamil diaspora. Why didn’t the President challenge the LTTE’s appeal against its EU proscription in 2006 nor appealed the EU General Courts recent judgment de-proscribing the LTTE ? I would also like to ask him whether he met LTTE members during his recent visit to the USA and Europe. I am going to repeat these questions at every forum I speak at.If Mahinda Rajapaksa can make baseless allegations and sling mud at me ,he should like a man also answer my questions” ,the UNP leader said amidst a sea of green and loud applause.

Courtesy:The Island