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New party led by Wimal to ‘end political dynasties’

05 Sep 2022

By Buddhika Samaraweera   The Supreme Lanka Coalition (SLC) – launched by a group of MPs who recently left the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) that are currently sitting amidst the Parliamentary Opposition – has stated it will “put an end” to the era of political dynasties, as per SLC Chairman Wimal Weerawansa. He said this speaking at the event to launch the SLC yesterday (4), where he added that the SLC would overthrow larger political parties while bringing up smaller parties. At the event, he said: “We were in coalitions with big political parties. According to them, we are small parties, but you all should remember 4 September. This will be the day when small parties are made bigger and big parties are flattened. It will be the people who will be doing it. The people will be defeating the efforts of the political parties that destroyed the country from time to time to rebuild them.” He further said that the era of the country being handed over to a few political dynasties – including, as he said, the Senanayakes, the Bandaranaikes, the Kotalawalas, and the Rajapaksas – will come to an end with the formation of the SLC. Instead of such dynasties, he said that governance will be handed over to those from ordinary families with a vision. He further said: “This is an era when Western countries’ power is transforming to Asia. This alliance will be standing with that Asian force. This is not an alliance based on numbers, but one where there are leaders who can go on a journey together with understanding. The SLC will be establishing village-level branches and they will be represented by the people who belong to all the political parties in this alliance.” Claiming that it was the previous United National Front (UNF)-led Government that availed almost 80% of the commercial loans, Weerawansa said that Samagi Jana Balwegaya (SJB) and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, who was a Minister in the said Government, was waiting and doing nothing at the time. He further charged that then-Prime Minister and current President Ranil Wickremesinghe was the person who obtained all those loans.  “The person who created the disease has now become the doctor,” he added. “What went wrong with Gotabaya Rajapaksa was that he did not make any effort to face the challenges. Instead, he was deceived by people such as former President’s Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundara and former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa. He also spent time thinking about spending his retirement with his children and grandchildren in the US,” claimed Weerawansa. Noting that there have been many crises in the country once every 500 years, Weerawansa said that everyone has to look at the prevailing crisis in the country in a new way. Against a backdrop of the youth demanding a system change, he said that governments come up with certain measures such as introducing new programmes in the public sector, but they are not implemented due to the influence of certain parties such as the trade unions. Meanwhile, speaking at the event, Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) Leader MP Udaya Gammanpila said that although there have been many alliances in the past, all of them have failed to answer the people’s issues. Noting that they, together with the SLPP, formed an alliance in 2019, he said that the Government led by the SLPP crushed the people’s wishes and expectations. “We all formed a Government in 2019, but those leaders put aside the people’s agenda and put personal and family agendas forward. Then they crushed all our hopes and the hopes of the people. It is true that we took the wrong bus. Now we have got off the bus. We are on our way now. We cannot dampen the hopes of the people and we are ready to go that way for the people,” he added. Claiming that the Government is obtaining loans from India, China, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Gammanpila claimed that every loan taken must be repaid with interest. Instead of asking for loans, he said that the Government should ask for investments, through which the prevailing crisis can be overcome. “We have the ability to recover our country through such investments, but no one talks about them. Neither the Government nor the Opposition has a plan to bring in foreign investment. Our Government only knows how to beg around the world. What the Opposition does is accuse each other and repeat issues that the people know very well. This alliance was formed to change that political culture. We are trying to create a programme that will provide answers to people’s issues and force the Government to implement them,” he added. The group of MPs who recently left the SLPP and are currently functioning as independent MPs in the Parliament including Weerawansa, Gammanpila, and former Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara yesterday (4) launched the new political alliance named SLC at the National Youth Council premises in Maharagama. The event was attended by MP Dullas Alahapperuma, MP Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thera of Vijaya Dharani Mahasabha, Lanka Sama Samaja Party Leader and MP Tissa Witharana, Dr. D. Weerasinghe of the Sri Lanka Communist Party, Diplomatic Community, and former Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) MP Thilanga Sumathipala and several others.  Weerawansa was appointed as the Chairman of the SLC, while Dr. G. Weerasinghe was appointed as its Secretary. Nanayakkara is the National Organiser of the coalition while Gammanpila, Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) Leader MP Prof. Tissa Vitharana serves as Deputy Chairman. MP Gevindu Kumaratunga was appointed as the Deputy Secretary of the new coalition and Ven. Rathana Thera was appointed as the patron of the SLC. In addition, an Executive Council representing all parties in the coalition has been appointed and it includes NFF National Organiser and MP Jayantha Samaraweera, NFF MP Mohamed Muzammil, and Weerasumana Weerasinghe of the Sri Lanka Communist Party.


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