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UNP scoffs at Marie Antoinette policies
Opposition UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has charged that the Kumaratunga government in calling for a costly referendum amidst a string of other problems in the country is acting like the infamous French Queen Marie Antoinette who told her people to eat cake if they had no bread.

Addressing the party's Puttalam district organisers at the Shirley Corea Esplanade in Chilaw, Mr. Wickremesinghe said the President and the JVP were pawning the future of the people by calling for a "useless" referendum purely to retain their privileges and consolidate their power.

He said the President had agreed that this country required a federal form of administration, a new electoral system, and amendments to the Executive President's powers. So what purpose will be served in holding a costly (non-binding) referendum on the issues without using that money to solve the problems of the masses, he asked.

The UNP leader said his party would urge the people to oppose such a referendum.

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