Mangala Samaraweera MP, yesterday disclosed a plot hatched by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to retain power through military intervention.

Addressing a press conference in Colombo, MP Samaraweera described this move as a shocking attempt aimed at staying in power in spite of the verdict delivered by the people at the January 8 Presidential poll.

He said their aim was to block the counting of votes and release of the final results by the Elections Commissioner through the intervention of the Army Commander, the Inspector General of Police and the Attorney General early Friday morning.

However, none of these officials had consented to this anti-democratic move and the Attorney General had pointed out that there was no possibility whatsoever to distort the will of the people.

“All these officials in one voice had refused to cooperate with the President and his brother and prevented a possible bloodbath in the country, saving democracy in the process. It was a victory of the people.Samaraweera said they would probe this conspiracy and bring the culprits to book. The people had every right to know what went on behind the scenes at Temple Trees that morning,” he said.

“There is reliable information that the Army Commander, the Police Chief and the Attorney General were summoned to Temple Trees on Friday morning around 1.00 and they had been told to find a mechanism to stop the counting of votes when it became clear that Mahinda Rajapaksa was losing,” he added.

“However, the Army Commander and the IGP had told the two brothers in no uncertain terms that they could not carry out such illegal orders. They were not willing to give unlawful orders to men under their command at any cost. The Attorney General has said such illegal and unconstitutional action will have extremely dangerous repercussions. The two brothers wanted to grab power through a military coup. The people of this country and the international community should know this,” he added.

Samaraweera thanked the three officials for their actions. They had acted with responsibility, respecting the people’s verdict. He pointed out that the previous administration exerted huge pressure on the Police and Army to support its election campaign. However, they acted independently as much as they could.

He decried attempts by certain elements to spread fear and canards on the security situation. A canard was spread on Sunday to the effect that the Army camps in the North had been stoned, which was an utter lie.He said they were aware of the people who had spread this canard through texts and social media.

He expressed confidence that the Maithripala Sirisena administration would be able to complete its 100 days programme with the support of more SLFP MPs.

Courtesy:Daily News