{"id":35924,"date":"2014-12-08T17:57:24","date_gmt":"2014-12-08T22:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=35924"},"modified":"2014-12-08T18:14:07","modified_gmt":"2014-12-08T23:14:07","slug":"hirunika-premachandra-extends-support-to-maithripala-left-president-but-not-the-slfp-says-popular-councillor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=35924","title":{"rendered":"Hirunika Premachandra Extends Support to Maithripala-\u201cLeft President but not the SLFP\u201d says Popular WPC Councillor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pledging her support to common opposition Maithripala Sirisena, popular UPFA Western Provincial Councillor Hirunika Premachandra defected from the ruling party on nomination day.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_8818.PNG\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Pic via: twitter.com\/azzamameen<\/i><\/p>\n

Premachandra said that she could not in good conscience remain with the Government.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he wins, the country wins,\u201d<\/strong> Premachandra said of Sirisena, soon after arriving at the Opposition Leader\u2019s office at 5:30 p.m. for a press briefing yesterday.<\/em><\/p>\n

She was accompanied by former President Chandrika Kumaratunga and welcomed by UNP Communications Director Mangala Samaraweera. Flanked by Kumaratunga and UNP MPs Rosy Senanayake and Chandrani Bandara, the former ruling party council member noted that she remained a member of the SLFP.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI am still in the SLFP but I have left the President,\u201d Premachandra told reporters. \u201cWhy do they protect my father\u2019s killers? How can I continue to stay in this Government in good conscience,\u201d she charged.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll this time we could not battle this system because there was no personality to rally around,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaithripala Sirisena is a politician we all love, who loves this country, a clean individual,\u201d Premachandra added.<\/p>\n

Daughter of murdered SLFP trade union leader and presidential advisor, Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra, Hirunika Premachandra observed that people could expect no justice when the murder of a senior party member was going unpunished.<\/p>\n

The Sirisena campaign was standing against violence, thuggery and corruption in the present system, she charged.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom tomorrow, my father and I will be demonised,\u201d the Councillor added.<\/p>\n

The Colombo District vote-topper at this year\u2019s WPC election said she had made her decision the day Sirisena announced he would be contesting as President Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s main opposition challenger in the 8 January election.<\/p>\n

\u201cI called Minister Rajitha Senaratne and asked him when I should join. He told me to come when I liked, he said I could do it today or at a later date,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

She had also sought counsel from ex-President Kumaratunga once she had made her up mind to defect, Premachandra added.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of them forced my hand. President Kumaratunga told me to make the right decision for me, also because I am a woman in politics, to think about my safety,\u201d she asserted.<\/p>\n

She apologised for misleading the media about her crossover plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor security reasons I could not divulge my plans on the telephone until the last moment,\u201d Premachandra explained.<\/p>\n

Queried further, the WPC member said there had been security threats against her ever since her father was killed.<\/p>\n

Former President Kumaratunga said that senior members of the Government had attempted to intimidate and threaten Premachandra even last morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came here to give her strength as she made this decision,\u201d Kumaratunga explained.<\/p>\n

No medicine for Mahinda\u2019s Bandaranaike phobias: CBK<\/strong><\/p>\n

Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga struck back against President Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s remarks last week that she was his true challenger in the 8 January poll.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no medicine for Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s Bandaranaike phobias,\u201d Kumaratunga charged in response to questions from journalists at the press briefing by Hirunika Premachandra yesterday.<\/p>\n

Against the corruption and brutality of the current administration, she had no choice but to come forward and support the common opposition platform, the ex-President noted.<\/p>\n

Addressing newspaper editors last Friday, President Rajapaksa claimed that his true opposition challenger was Kumaratunga. He charged that the plot to put Maithripala Sirisena forward as candidate was a Chandrika-Mangala conspiracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a historic moment when the UNP and the SLFP have come together. We have always dreamed about this,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:DailyFT<\/em><\/p>\n

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

Pledging her support to common opposition Maithripala Sirisena, popular UPFA Western Provincial Councillor Hirunika Premachandra defected from the ruling party on nomination day. Pic via: twitter.com\/azzamameen Premachandra said that she could not in good conscience remain with the Government. \u201cIf he wins, the country wins,\u201d Premachandra said of Sirisena, soon after arriving at the Opposition …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Hirunika Premachandra Extends Support to Maithripala-\u201cLeft President but not the SLFP\u201d says Popular WPC Councillor’ »<\/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\/35924"}],"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=35924"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35928,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35924\/revisions\/35928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}