39 MP’s From SLFP Including Mahinda Rajapaksa Will Attend March 17 Rally In Colombo Defying Disciplinary Action Threat Made By Party Leadership – Dullas Alahapperuma

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by Dasun Edirisinghe

The Joint Opposition yesterday said that all SLFP MPs within its ranks would be attending a rally to be held on March 17 at Hyde Park, Colombo in spite of a warning from the SLFP leadership that disciplinary action would be taken against them.

Addressing the media at Dr. N. M. Perera Centre, SLFP Vice President and Matara District MP Dullas Alahapperuma said that all 39 SLFP MPs including former President Mahinda Rajapaksa would attend the event.

There were 41 SLFP MPs in the Joint Opposition, but two of them would go abroad on Thursday, he said.

Alahapperuma said there was nothing wrong with SLFP MPs attending the rally as it was organised against the UNP which was the main rival of the SLFP.

Former JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe had also confirmed his participation, Alahapperuma said.

SLFP General Secretary Duminda Dissanayake announced on Sunday that all SLFP parliamentarians had been informed that they would be barred from attending any meetings, rallies, conferences or discussions that were not organised by the party including the anti-government rally scheduled to be held on Thursday.

The party decision had been conveyed to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as well, he said.

According to Dissanayake, the decision had been taken to maintain the party discipline as there was a conspiracy by certain elements to create a rift in the party and bring about a split.

Alahapperuma said: “I don’t think that the SLFP General Secretary is such a weak person to oppose our MPs attending an anti-UNP rally. Our objective is not to harm the SLFP, but to topple the ineffective government.”

He said the Joint Opposition had expected SLFP MPs holding ministerial portfolios at present to leave the government in protest against the suppression of the people’s rights. But, they had not done so.

The government had curtailed subsidies to farmers and was hunting war heroes, inking agreements inimical to the country’s interests like ETCA with other countries, but some SLFP MPs had no qualms about defending the UNP-led government, Alahapperuma said. “We will gather at Hyde Park to work towards carrying out their manifesto ‘A guarantee for the Future’ given at the August 17 general election.

Leader of the Joint Opposition Dinesh Gunawardena said that 500 former local government members of the UNP would also attend the rally.

Courtesy:The Island