{"id":65670,"date":"2019-09-20T19:56:58","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T23:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=65670"},"modified":"2019-09-20T19:56:58","modified_gmt":"2019-09-20T23:56:58","slug":"sajith-premadasa-is-also-for-abolition-of-executive-presidency-and-will-announce-it-after-he-is-nominated-as-the-presidential-candidate-says-thalatha-atukorale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=65670","title":{"rendered":"Sajith Premadasa is also for Abolition of Executive Presidency and will Announce it after he is Nominated as the Presidential Candidate Says Thalatha Atukorale."},"content":{"rendered":"

By Himal Kotelawala<\/strong><\/p>\n

United National Party (UNP) seniors backing Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa in the race to the executive presidency defended their decision yesterday to oppose the 11th hour move to abolish it.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the media in Minister Mangala Samaraweera\u2019s official residence in Colombo this afternoon, Ministers Thalatha Atukorale, Ranjith Madduma Bandara and Ravindra Samaraweera said that all party leaders of the UNP-led United National Front (UNF) alliance were not only vehemently opposed to the move, but were also fully behind the candidacy of Premadasa.<\/p>\n

Insisting that they were not opposed to abolishing the executive presidency, Atukorale said a majority of the UNP and the UNF were merely against the indecent hurry with which it was being pushed, with an election just weeks away.<\/p>\n

Atukorale also defended President Maithripala Sirisena who, as President, has the sole power to convene the Cabinet of Ministers.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe asked the President who wanted this done. He said somebody had made him a request to take it up with the Cabinet. It\u2019s clear who made the request. But those of us dedicated to preserving party unity will not comment on it further,\u201d she said, refusing to reveal a name.<\/p>\n

Echoing similar sentiments, Madduma Bandara said his party is committed to abolishing the executive presidency.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UNP has always stood for abolishing. But we had four and a half years to do it. Proposing to abolish it just before an election betrays a fear to face that election,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll UNF leaders opposed it. Minister Rauff Hakeem and all other party leaders expressed their support for Sajith in a meeting held at Committee Room 8 of the Parliament. In such a context, it was inappropriate to bring this up at the last minute,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

However, pressed by journalists on the willingness of the Premadasa camp to see it through once elected, the Minister declined to promise anything.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe won\u2019t make a promise like that. But our candidate, once he has won, will take the necessary steps. This doesn\u2019t need to be an election promise,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Minister of Public Administration also suggested, tongue in cheek, that it might\u2019ve been a section of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) who had convinced the President to convene yesterday\u2019s Cabinet meeting in an attempt to stop that party\u2019s candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa from running.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr maybe they were just afraid of Sajith running,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

All three Ministers loudly opposed the notion of taking action against the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader for \u201cspeaking his mind\u201d and expressing his support for Premadasa.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a UNF leader, Minister Hakeem has a right to speak up,\u201d said Madduma Bandara.<\/p>\n

The Ministers\u2019 repeated claims of not being opposed to abolition notwithstanding, their preferred candidate Pemadasa on Tuesday, in that very location, refused to give a straight answer when asked about his position on the matter, arguing that no scientific survey had been conducted on the people\u2019s mandate for it.<\/p>\n

Asked about this, Minister Atukorale told RepublicNext said it was too early for Premadasa to comment on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil his candidacy is officially endorsed, we cannot comment on that. We have held discussions with all the relevant groups and parties and informed them [of our position]. You will know before 7 October,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

When pressed about the call for a scientific survey, she said, with some apparent hesitance, that Premadasa was indeed for abolishing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too early for him to comment. Past candidates had pledged it three times. They signed MoUs but it never happened. But we will, of course. He is of the view of getting it abolished, and he will announce it once the nomination is confirmed,\u201d she said.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMembers of the alliance have agreed to support him. He\u2019s the only candidate they have pledged their support to. He has also started talks with Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sampanthan,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:Republic Next<\/em><\/p>\n

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

By Himal Kotelawala United National Party (UNP) seniors backing Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa in the race to the executive presidency defended their decision yesterday to oppose the 11th hour move to abolish it. Speaking to the media in Minister Mangala Samaraweera\u2019s official residence in Colombo this afternoon, Ministers Thalatha Atukorale, Ranjith Madduma Bandara and Ravindra …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Sajith Premadasa is also for Abolition of Executive Presidency and will Announce it after he is Nominated as the Presidential Candidate Says Thalatha Atukorale.’ »<\/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\/65670"}],"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=65670"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65671,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65670\/revisions\/65671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=65670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=65670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}