By

Nadira Gunatilleke

President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the opening ceremony if an Exhibition in Ampara, Mar 23, 2013

When all international challenges, the LTTE threat and the threat of separatism ends, President Mahinda Rajapaksa will himself declare that he is the last Executive President of Sri Lanka, SLFP Treasurer and Youth Affairs and Skills Development Minister Dullas Alahapperuma told the Daily News yesterday.

Minister Alahapperuma said the day President Rajapaksa announces an end to the Executive Presidency will come definitely before 2020 (2015-2020). Till then “Sri Lanka will go forward and thrive with the Executive Presidency and defeat all existing challenges in the next few years,” he said. The minister said there is a major difference between unity and “organising things as a gang.”

“No one can call the current behaviour of the Opposition ‘unity’ because this is only ‘hanging around’ or a herding together to achieve a target which is the election victory, he said.

Minister Alahapperuma pointed out that the life expectancy of such gangs or herds end after the decisive day or after passing a deadline.

“There will be no gang or a herd after the Presidential Election day. This happened during the 2010 Presidential Election. Even a new political party, the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) was formed and a new alliance was formed. But after the Presidential Election none exist. Everything vanished into thin air,” he said.

Alahapperuma stressed that a DNA test must be performed on the ‘DNA’ to find out its origin and the current position.

“Today the so called leaders of the DNA cannot sit together on one stage.

Sri Lanka needs a healthy opposition. Unity is required in the opposition. It is required for democracy,” he said.

Courtesy:Daily News