Rebel group turns down JVP invitation

The newly formed JVP rebel group, the National Freedom Front (NFF), led by Wimal Weerawansa, has announced that it will not be attending the JVP’s fifth convention, scheduled for Tuesday. JVP Central Committee member and MP Anura Kumara Dissanayaka told The Sunday Times that the party’s propaganda secretary Mr. Weerawansa, who is yet to be formally removed from the party membership, and nine other MPs backing him, have been invited to attend the meeting through personal invitation letters and newspaper notices.

“The party’s office bearers will automatically stand dissolved when the convention is held, and this would provide an opportunity to appoint new members to the central committee, which would also be able to change the leadership, if required,” Mr. Dissanayaka said. Speculation is high that party leader Somwansa Amarasinghe may be replaced by General Secretary Tilvin Silva, but Mr. Dissanayaka said no such decision has been taken, and that it would depend on what the majority of the party members wanted.

JVP MP Vijitha Herath told The Sunday Times that other items on Tuesday’s agenda, in addition to a change of office bearers, was the endorsement of a new party programme and the JVP’s local and international campaign. The convention is held once in five years. Tuesday’s meeting will be the first since the JVP split led by Mr. Weerawansa.

Meanwhile, JVP MP Achala Jagoda, who represents Mr. Weerawansa’s newly formed political party, said: “There is no use having the convention to justify our removal from the party. We have already left the JVP to form our new political party”, he said. The all-day convention will be held at the Sugathadasa Stadium.