- CBK’s offer for talks with ‘non-corrupt’ Sirisena faction members thrown out
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) faction led by former President and incumbent Opposition Parliamentarian Maithripala Sirisena stated that they are not ready for a negotiation-based approach with the faction led by former President and incumbent SLFP Patron Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.
With an interim injunction being issued by the Colombo District Court (DC) preventing Sirisena from functioning as the Party Chairperson, a problematic situation arose within the SLFP. The Party has now split into two factions led by Sirisena and Kumaratunga. The two factions have made separate appointments to the Party's key positions such as the Acting Chairperson and General Secretary, some of which have been challenged before Courts.
Speaking at a recent media briefing, Kumaratunga expressed a willingness to engage in discussions with whom she claimed are non-corrupt members of the Sirisena led group, aiming to collaborate on revamping the Party. She said that such members are welcome to join the group led by her, and support rebuilding the SLFP, which is currently in a state of crisis.
When queried by The Daily Morning as to whether they would be willing to engage in discussions with the Kumaratunga-led faction, SLFP Senior Vice President, Prof. Rohana Luxman Piyadasa, who represents the Sirisena-led group, said that they would not move to have any such discussion.
“They are talking about non-corrupt members, but, how many corrupt politicians including Ministers and State Ministers are there in their group? Launching an investigation into the properties that they owned before and after entering the Parliament could help the public gauge their level of corruption.”
In response to a complaint filed by Kumaratunga, the Colombo DC recently issued an interim injunction preventing Sirisena from serving as the SLFP Chairperson. This led to a split within the Party into the two said factions. Since then, the SLFP has been facing a turbulent period, with various Court orders being issued against its officials, and even creating uncertainty about the Party's strategy for the upcoming elections.