Former JHU stalwart and General Secretary of newly formed Pivithuru Hela Urumaya Attorney-at-Law Udaya Gammanpila yesterday lamented that the JHU’s present day leaders had backed down after challenging him for a TV debate.

Gammanpila said that he had been challenged for a TV debate by JHU National Organiser Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe via media and he duly accepted the latter’s challenge. “I honestly expected that Warnasinghe or JHU’s General Secretary Champika Ranawaka would face me in the debate. After all it was Warnasinghe who threw the gauntlet for a debate. But now I have learnt from media reports that they have found a scapegoat in party’s second level activist Anuruddha Pradeep. He has neither contested an election nor engaged in full time politics, but a university lecturer who attended the JHU’s Central Committee meetings rarely,” Gammanpila said.

According to Gammanpila, Anuruddha Pradeep was not conversant with recent crisis within the party leading to mass exodus from it to form the PHU. “However, I would agree to debate with the person nominated by the JHU as it would help me tell the public what really took place with regard to the split within the JHU. As I gave them the chance to decide a TV channel, they have selected the TNL. However they have decided the date too without consulting me or asking whether I would be available. The date they decided is Dec 29. I am unable to participate in a TV debate on that day as I have to leave the country to address several meetings in Middle Eastern countries and would return home only on Jan 05. I would be available for the debate only after Jan 05,” Gammanpila said.

Warnasinghe when contacted for comment said that he did not personally challenge Gammanpila for a debate. “Challenge was not from me, but from the party. After Gammanpila announced he accepted the challenge, the Leadership council of the party decided the name of Anuruddha Pradeep, who is our Educational Secretary. Gammanpila agreed for the debate through TNL but when he said he was not available on Dec 29, the TV channel offered him two more days. Now it seems he is backing off. He accepting our challenge requested us not to escape from the debate by citing health reasons or prior agreed engagements. Now he does the same,” Warnasinghe added.

Courtesy:The Island