{"id":36273,"date":"2014-12-16T17:26:47","date_gmt":"2014-12-16T22:26:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=36273"},"modified":"2014-12-16T17:26:47","modified_gmt":"2014-12-16T22:26:47","slug":"maithripala-sirisena-challenges-mahinda-rajapaksa-to-a-public-debate-on-democracy-and-good-governance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=36273","title":{"rendered":"Maithripala Sirisena Challenges Mahinda Rajapaksa to a Public Debate on Democracy and Good Governance"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dharisha Bastians in Divulapitiya<\/strong><\/p>\n

Common Opposition Candidate Maithripala Sirisena has challenged President Mahinda Rajapaksa to a debate on good governance and democracy.<\/p>\n

Speaking at an election rally in Divulapitiya last night, Sirisena urged his former boss to debate him in a neutral setting, before a panel of independent judges.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will come to the debate without a single piece of paper in my hands. I will teach him about good governance and democracy. I will teach him how civilised leaders rule,\u201d a fired up Sirisena charged.<\/p>\n

Both candidates had to be ensured security at the chosen debate venue, he said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Speaking to Daily FT as he left the rally grounds, Sirisena said the intelligence services had failed to uncover their defection. \u201cWe were that creative,\u201d he quipped.<\/p>\n

A host of opposition leaders addressed the Divulapitiya rally, speaking against family rule, corruption and abuse of power.<\/p>\n


\n \u201cExpect skulduggery on polling day\u201d: CBK<\/strong><\/p>\n

By
\nDharisha Bastians<\/strong><\/p>\n

A confident former President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday warned that underhand tactics were likely on polling day and called on the international community to push the Rajapaksa Government to hold a free and fair election on 8 January.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have immense support at ground level, which we have to organise and take to the polling booth,\u201d Kumaratunga said, brimming with confidence outside her official residence in Colombo.
\n\u201cOn polling day we suspect that there is going to be a lot of skulduggery going on. We have to prepare for that. It happened in the Fonseka election too,\u201d the former Head of State warned.
\nThe Opposition was developing counter-strategies to combat the influence of underhand tactics on election day, she explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to have various strategies and methods to counter this, we know they will do two or three different things and we are prepared for that,\u201d Kumaratunga said.<\/p>\n

She urged the international community to push for a fair poll.<\/p>\n

\u201cMonitoring is about the only thing they can do, in someone else\u2019s country. Perhaps talk to the Government about carrying on a free and fair election. But with this Government that falls on completely deaf ears,\u201d the former President noted.<\/p>\n

President Kumaratunga, who is reportedly heavily involved in the Maithripala Sirisena campaign strategy and operation, complained that the Opposition\u2019s greatest enemy was \u2018time\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to run. We have to work 48 hours a day if we can,\u201d she urged. The former President acknowledged that the Opposition would have liked three more months to structure the campaign, but remained hopeful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the people\u2019s power we are seeing will counter-balance the lack of time,\u201d Kumaratunga said.<\/p>\n

Kumaratunga explained that the common Opposition alliance looks a little confused at the moment, because the parties are still trying to get things together.<\/p>\n

\u201cIntentions are very good. Bona fides are excellent. I was pleasantly surprised. Nobody is trying to gain leverage above others,\u201d she acknowledged.<\/p>\n

President Kumaratunga, who is marshalling defectors from the ruling party as the former Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, yesterday oversaw the crossovers of three Pradeshiya Sabha members from her home district of Gampaha.<\/p>\n

Local councillors Indika Rajapaksa from the Bandaranaike seat of Attanagalla, Somaratne Diyanetti from the Meerigama PS and Attorney-at-Law Jeewani Kariyawasam from the Chilaw PS quit the UPFA and joined the Opposition yesterday.<\/p>\n

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

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

By Dharisha Bastians in Divulapitiya Common Opposition Candidate Maithripala Sirisena has challenged President Mahinda Rajapaksa to a debate on good governance and democracy. Speaking at an election rally in Divulapitiya last night, Sirisena urged his former boss to debate him in a neutral setting, before a panel of independent judges. \u201cI will come to the …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Maithripala Sirisena Challenges Mahinda Rajapaksa to a Public Debate on Democracy and Good Governance’ »<\/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\/36273"}],"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=36273"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36274,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36273\/revisions\/36274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}