Gota asks Tamils to place their trust in him

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa today (28) appealed to the Tamil community place their trust in him as he is someone who does what he promises. 

By Sandun Jayawardana

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa today (Oct 28) appealed to the Tamil community to place their trust in him as he is someone who does what he promises. 

Speaking at his first campaign rally in Jaffna, Mr Rajapaksa appealed to the people of the north to look to the future rather than remain stuck in the past as some Tamil leaders want them to be. 

He stressed that the Government under his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa had carried out large scale development in the North after the war, successfully rehabilitated over 13, 000 former LTTE cadres and released "90 percent" of the lands occupied by the military during the war.

He claimed he had planned as Defence Secretary to allow the owners of the remaining lands to at least farm them until their eventual release, but that this plan could not be implemented due to the change of Government in 2015. 

The SLPP candidate said steps will be taken under a future Government headed by him to give employment to the youth in the North and again reiterated his campaign promise to grant university admission to all those who pass the GCE Advanced Level examination. 

SLPP Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa also addressed the gathering as did MPs Douglas Devananda and Angajan Ramanathan. 

(Pics by Indika Handuwala)