Following the cross over of former SLFP General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena and several other ruling party parliamentarians to the opposition, a lot of horse-trading is being done at the provincial council level to seize the power of at least three provincial councils before the next presidential election.
Highly placed political sources told The Nation that three provincial councils – namely Uva, Western and Central – are vulnerable to an unexpected development of that nature. In some Provincial Councils, the opposition had expressed willingness to offer cash prices standing at Rs 10 million to Provincial Councillors who are ready to cross over.
However, in an interesting turn of events, some PC members had indicated to the opposition that they were willing to make a move for “cash prices” above Rs. 25 million. “Because of their high demands, the parties who are negotiating with them are now faced with budgetary constraints, “ a spokesman of the opposition who wished to remain anonymous quipped while speaking to The Nation on Saturday.
Meanwhile, there is another group of provincial councillors in all three provinces who are ready to cross over mainly due to political reasons. They are the ones who are supportive of Parliamentarians who have already extended their support to the common opposition.
As a result, the top rung leadership of the ruling party has now embarked on a mission to collect information about its members who have made commitments to join the common opposition, with and without cash prices.
Meanwhile, Leader of the House Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, addressing a press conference in Colombo on Saturday, dubbed the moves of the common opposition as a Diaspora funded foreign conspiracy that is aimed at destabilizing Sri Lanka.
Addressing the same press conference, Sri Lanka Freedom Party Treasurer Dullas Alahapperuma said, “This is all a mega teledrama.” While indicating that foreign funds are being channeled into the political campaign of the opposition, Alahapperuma said no foreign arm had any right to pump money into election campaigns in Sri Lanka.
He also went on to dub President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the only leader who did not bow down to international pressure.
Courtesy:The Nation