{"id":38333,"date":"2015-02-09T01:37:30","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T06:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=38333"},"modified":"2015-02-09T01:37:30","modified_gmt":"2015-02-09T06:37:30","slug":"upfa-constituents-demand-that-mahinda-rajapaksa-be-named-as-prime-ministerial-candidate-immediately","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=38333","title":{"rendered":"UPFA Constituents Demand that Mahinda Rajapaksa be Named as Prime Ministerial Candidate Immediately"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><br \/>\nBy Shamindra Ferdinando<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The SLFP is heading for a major crisis with some UPFA constituents demanding that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa be named their prime ministerial candidate immediately.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for Western Provincial Councillor Udaya Gammanpila\u2019s Pivithuru Hela Urumaya yesterday said that UPFA constituents, namely MP Dinesh Gunawardena\u2019s MEP, MP Wimal Weerawansa\u2019s National Freedom Front (NFF) and Vasudeva Nanayakkara\u2019s Democratic Left Front (DLF) would push for Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s return.<\/p>\n<p>The spokesman said that the grouping would brief the media today (Feb.9) at the National Library and Documentation Services Board regarding their plans.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Gunawardena, Weerawansa and Nanayakkara refrained from voting for the UNP-led government\u2019s mini-budget on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Authoritative SLFP sources told The Island that they were in touch with the UPFA constituents. Responding to a query, sources said that the vast majority of SLFP parliamentary group was opposed to any course of action that would jeopardise its forthcoming parliamentary polls campaign.<\/p>\n<p>A UPFA MP told The Island that move was inimical to the SLFP\u2019s interests. It could split the party, the MP said, while expressing confidence that the majority was ready to work with President Maithripala Sirisena.<\/p>\n<p>LSSP General Secretary Prof. Tissa Vitharana told The Island that his outfit was committed to an alliance under the new SLFP leadership. Prof. Vitharana strongly opposed moves to form a new alliance under the former president\u2019s leadership to contest the forthcoming parliamentary poll.<\/p>\n<p>Premier Wickremesinghe recently declared that the general election would be held in June this year after having dissolved parliament soon after April 23.<\/p>\n<p>Political sources said that Vasudeva\u2019s move appeared to have caused a split in the Socialist Alliance (SA) comprising the CP, LSSP and DLF.<br \/>\n<em><br \/>\nCourtesy:The Island<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"tweetbutton38333\" class=\"tw_button\" style=\"float:right;margin-left:10px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdbsjeyaraj.com%2Fdbsj%2F%3Fp%3D38333&amp;text=UPFA%20Constituents%20Demand%20that%20Mahinda%20Rajapaksa%20be%20Named%20as%20Prime%20Ministerial%20Candidate%20Immediately&amp;related=&amp;lang=en&amp;count=horizontal\" class=\"twitter-share-button\"  style=\"width:55px;height:22px;background:transparent url('https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-tweet-button\/tweetn.png') no-repeat  0 0;text-align:left;text-indent:-9999px;display:block;\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Shamindra Ferdinando The SLFP is heading for a major crisis with some UPFA constituents demanding that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa be named their prime ministerial candidate immediately. A spokesperson for Western Provincial Councillor Udaya Gammanpila\u2019s Pivithuru Hela Urumaya yesterday said that UPFA constituents, namely MP Dinesh Gunawardena\u2019s MEP, MP Wimal Weerawansa\u2019s National Freedom Front &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=38333\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading &lsquo;UPFA Constituents Demand that Mahinda Rajapaksa be Named as Prime Ministerial Candidate Immediately&rsquo; &raquo;<\/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\/38333"}],"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=38333"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38335,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38333\/revisions\/38335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}