{"id":42205,"date":"2015-07-17T21:04:19","date_gmt":"2015-07-18T01:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=42205"},"modified":"2015-07-17T21:05:06","modified_gmt":"2015-07-18T01:05:06","slug":"roaring-address-by-mahinda-rajapaksa-is-highlight-of-upfa-inaugural-election-rally-at-anuradhapura","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=42205","title":{"rendered":"Roaring Address by Mahinda Rajapaksa is Highlight of UPFA Inaugural Election rally at Anuradhapura"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nBy <\/p>\n

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

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was the star attraction and central focus of the UPFA\u2019s inaugural rally in Anuradhapura yesterday, with SLFP top brass and alliance leaders pledging to work towards his election as Sri Lanka\u2019s next prime minister.<\/p>\n

Thousands gathered at the Salgado grounds in Anuradhapura for the UPFA\u2019s campaign kick-off, where SLFP office bearers and UPFA party leaders pledged to uphold election laws and make Mahinda Rajapaksa Prime Minister following their polls victory.<\/p>\n

The UPFA\u2019s Anuradhapura District Leader and Sirisena loyalist Duminda Dissanayake declined to attend the rally and the party\u2019s MPs and leaders from other districts appeared to take a lead role instead. The rally was distinctly presidential in nature, with the former President looking like the only candidate on the UPFA ticket.<\/p>\n

\u201cRanil Wickremesinghe and certain foreign missions tried hard to stop me from getting the nomination for this election. The people managed to defeat that conspiracy,\u201d Rajapaksa told the crowds, in a message that was strongly focused on national security issues.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The former President raised fears about a LTTE resurgence, saying people were afraid to travel from the south to the north of the island again by bus and train. <\/p>\n

\u201cAre people going the way they used to? They call the Nagavihara priest and ask him if it is safe to travel to the north. This is how it was in the 1980s, when the LTTE was on the rise,\u201d Rajapaksa thundered.<\/p>\n

The ex President recalled how former Presidents had armed the LTTE and allowed the massacre of 600 policemen in the east, appearing to forget that the main protagonist of those killings was brought to parliament during his own presidency.<\/p>\n

The new Government under his leadership would work towards a new foreign policy and new economic direction, the former President claimed.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow all the racists and those who stirred up racism are on the other side. They are no longer with us. So we can think anew about reconciliation and harmony between the communities,\u201d President Rajapaksa charged.<\/p>\n

Large cutouts of the former President marked both ends of the main stage and his face was plastered on the backdrop bearing the new UPFA campaign slogans: Let\u2019s give life to the country; let\u2019s start afresh!<\/p>\n

As party leader of the SLFP and the alliance it leads, President Maithripala Sirisena featured nowhere in the propaganda or the rhetoric of the UPFA\u2019s maiden rally, except to be berated by the leaders of smaller parties in the coalition. President Sirisena and his remaining loyalists appeared to have lost all control of the party, after senior SLFPers colluded to make the UPFA\u2019s first campaign rally all about Rajapaksa\u2019s prime ministerial bid. <\/p>\n

SLFP leaders openly defied President Sirisena\u2019s assertion this week that Rajapaksa would not be appointed prime minister even if the UPFA wins the 17 August election, and his written declaration on 30 June that the former President would not be named the UPFA\u2019s prime ministerial nominee.<\/p>\n

Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala De Silva told the crowds that he himself would nominate Rajapaksa as prime ministerial candidate when the UPFA wins the election in August.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour leadership will ensure we win a majority of the electorates in this election. The SLFP needs a strong leader, so we will nominate you as prime minister,\u201d the Opposition Leader said.
\nFor the first time, UPFA General Secretary Susil Premajayantha admitted he had been part of the plan all along to make Rajapaksa a candidate at the election. Premajayantha admitted he had done a great deal of \u2018behind the scenes\u2019 work to win the ex President the nomination and claimed to have always been part of the Rajapaksa team.<\/p>\n

SLFP General Secretary Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said President Rajapaksa had saved the country from the clutches of terrorism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis country must have gratitude, he is still under threat from terrorists,\u201d Yapa charged.
\nOther UPFA party leaders took President Sirisena on directly during the rally.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UPFA wishes to thank President Sirisena for unifying the alliance. Last Tuesday, everyone in the party knew where he stands and it has unified us all. We can\u2019t blame him. He is indebted to the UNP for winning him the presidency,\u201d UPFA Colombo District candidate and Leader of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya Udaya Gammanpila told the crowds.<\/p>\n

Also making an appearance at the Anuradhapura rally was former Chief Justice Sarath Silva, who has flip flopped on supporting Rajapaksa several times in the past. The ex Judge told the crowds that there was no truth to the legal arguments that as a former President, Rajapaksa could not be Premier.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday thanks to the 19th Amendment, the Prime Minister has more powers than the President. We are trying here today, not to put you on President Sirisena\u2019s chair, but to install you as Prime Minister, which is much more powerful,\u201d Silva asserted.<\/p>\n

LSSP Leader Tissa Vitharana said the party would push for the abolition of the presidency entirely to ensure Rajapaksa would be given all powers as Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never betrayed the motherland like other politicians, I never struck secret pacts,\u201d the ex President told supporters. \u201cEvery leader from 1978 to 2005 has gone down on bended knee before Prabhakaran,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The former President who said he would respond to President Sirisena\u2019s speech in Anuradhapura yesterday, told the crowds that the people would give their own answer to that speech by his party leader.<\/p>\n

Making a strong case for mega development undertaken during his reign, President Rajapaksa said his administration only four years to turn Colombo into the world\u2019s fastest growing city.
\n\u201cIt has taken them only 100 days to reverse all this development,\u201d Rajapaksa charged.
\n
\nPoliticians should retire when their time is up: Mahanayaka Thera <\/strong><\/p>\n

Malwatta Chapter Mahanayaka, Most Venerable Thibbatuwawe Sri Sumangala Thera yesterday said politicians should think of retiring at the correct time as politics is not a profession one does for a lifetime. <\/p>\n

The Thera made this comment when deputy minister of Justice Sujeewa Senasinghe visited the Malwatta temple in Kandy to seek the blessings of the prelate. <\/p>\n


\nFR case before SC against MR <\/strong><\/p>\n

A fundamental rights case was filed yesterday with the Supreme Court, citing that providing massive privileges including vehicles and security to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has violated the fundamental rights of other candidates. <\/p>\n

This petition was filed by a National List candidate of Nava Samasamaja Party Senaka Perera. <\/p>\n

Senaka Perera, in his fundamental rights petition named seven persons including the Elections Commissioner, the IGP and the Defence Secretary as respondents. <\/p>\n

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

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

By Dharisha Bastians Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was the star attraction and central focus of the UPFA\u2019s inaugural rally in Anuradhapura yesterday, with SLFP top brass and alliance leaders pledging to work towards his election as Sri Lanka\u2019s next prime minister. Thousands gathered at the Salgado grounds in Anuradhapura for the UPFA\u2019s campaign kick-off, where …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Roaring Address by Mahinda Rajapaksa is Highlight of UPFA Inaugural Election rally at Anuradhapura’ »<\/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\/42205"}],"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=42205"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42206,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42205\/revisions\/42206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}