JVP demanded top portfolios including deputy defence, says CBK
By Harinda Vidanage
In an outburst against the JVP, President Chandrika Kumaratunga addressing SLFP MPs and organisers disclosed the JVP had demanded forty seats, four portfolios and four deputy ministerships including the important the post of deputy minister of defence for the proposed alliance.

The President said that the JVP demands were too much and beyond her will or power to give. She questioned "what will I be left with after giving away the chairmanship of the alliance". She said the SLFP even offered the co-chairmanship and said "I cannot afford to lose the party".

The President said it was her duty to protect the party that her parents built and it cannot be given away to be gulped down by the JVP. Anura Bandaranaike had later commented that it was no easy task for anybody to gulp down the president or himself.

The ministries the JVP wanted included Agriculture and Irrigation, Fisheries, Media and all education ministries- higher education and tertiary education. This the President said was just too much and could not be given away.

The President warned that she would take severe disciplinary action, like what she did to Richard Pathirana and A.H.M. Fowzie, against any one making remarks to the effect that the SLFP cannot win the election without the support of the JVP.

The President had turned towards the SLFP organizers and told them not to go home and sleep but to start organizing the party and not to come back with the excuse that they are unable to work alone. The President at one point made Badulla district MP, Dilan Perera to sit down when he tried to point out the importance of forming an alliance with the JVP.

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