{"id":35259,"date":"2014-11-23T15:33:01","date_gmt":"2014-11-23T20:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=35259"},"modified":"2014-11-23T15:33:01","modified_gmt":"2014-11-23T20:33:01","slug":"even-if-mahinda-rajapaka-leaves-the-slfp-i-wont-leave-the-party-says-nimal-siripala-de-silva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=35259","title":{"rendered":"Even if Mahinda Rajapaka Leaves the SLFP ,I wont Leave the Party says Nimal Siripala de Silva"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Dharisha Bastians
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The political week is poised to start with a bang, with a buoyant Opposition promising more defections from the ruling UPFA coalition, while the Government vowed yesterday that it had put measures in place to stop the bleed.<\/p>\n

Crossover and counter-crossover speculation is rife, with several Government MPs expected to cross the chamber symbolically tomorrow during the Third Reading of the Budget.<\/p>\n

Budget will be defeated, with the Government in command of a 157 majority in the 225 seat Parliament.
\nWith the series of SLFP defections so far and the JHU\u2019s withdrawal of support, the Government numbers could be down from 161 seats to 152, dangerously close to losing its two-thirds majority in the House that it has enjoyed since 2010.<\/p>\n

\u201cI give you my assurance as a Minister of Cabinet and I say this with responsibility. There will be no more conspirators and no more defections to the Opposition,\u201d Power and Energy Minister Pavitra Wanniarachchi told the daily UPFA press conference at the SLFP Headquarters in Colombo yesterday.<\/p>\n

The Government had been engaged in a major operation overnight on Saturday, the Minister told journalists.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Wanniarachchi said Maithripala Sirisena, who announced his candidacy as the main Opposition challenger to President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday (21), had engaged in a \u201cgreat betrayal\u201d.<\/p>\n

Several potential pole-vaulters within the Government extended their support to the President over the weekend, indicating that hectic negotiations had been underway to stem the flow of defectors after the announcement of the Sirisena candidacy.<\/p>\n

UPFA MP Vidura Wickremanayake announced he and his father, former Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, would remain with the SLFP and support President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the election.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we want to talk about personal grievances, we have many,\u201d Wickremanayake told a meeting yesterday. \u201cBut sometimes you have to think about the country. So my father and I have made a decision to stay,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva vowed in Badulla yesterday that he would not cross over to the Opposition. \u201cEven if Mahinda leaves the SLFP, I won\u2019t leave,\u201d De Silva told reporters at a press briefing in his electorate. Amid speculation that he may be offered the premiership, the Leader of the House noted that he was not after portfolios.<\/p>\n

Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage who also addressed the press briefing acknowledged that the series of defections on Friday had sent ripples through the Government camp.
\n\u201cThere is no need to lie,\u201d the Minister said, \u201ceven our hearts started to thump a little faster.\u201d
\nHowever, Aluthgamage said that it was now clear that Sirisena was only contesting to bring UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe into power.<\/p>\n

\u201cTissa Attanayake says that Ranil will be executive Prime Minister within 24 hours of Sirisena\u2019s election,\u201d he said, adding that it was a shame that the Opposition Leader who had lost so many elections was going to get installed in high office.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow Maithripala is only a pawn being used to being Ranil into power,\u201d charged Minister Wanniarachchi.
\nThe Government Ministers claimed that the opposition alliance was a conspiracy by foreign powers interfering in Sri Lanka\u2019s affairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a conspiracy between foreign forces and the Ranil-Chandrika-Maithri-LTTE nexus,\u201d Aluthgamage charged, referring to the common alliance platform<\/p>\n


\nCourtesy:Daily FT<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dharisha Bastians The political week is poised to start with a bang, with a buoyant Opposition promising more defections from the ruling UPFA coalition, while the Government vowed yesterday that it had put measures in place to stop the bleed. Crossover and counter-crossover speculation is rife, with several Government MPs expected to cross the …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Even if Mahinda Rajapaka Leaves the SLFP ,I wont Leave the Party says Nimal Siripala de Silva’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35259"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35259"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35260,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35259\/revisions\/35260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}