Sirisena urges SLPP to be flexible on demands to form alliance

Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) leader President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday (Sept 29) urged the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) to be flexible on his party's conditions to form an alliance between both parties.

Addressing a SLFP rally in Kurunegala, Mr. Sirisena said he informed the SLPP that although his party would be willing to support presidential candidate Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, they would not agree on contesting under the lotus bud symbol of the SLPP.

He noted that he had conveyed this decision during a meeting with SLPP leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, its presidential candidate Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, and Basil Rajapaksa last week.

"Didn't we do them favours to accomodate their party members as a Prime Minister and Opposition Leader, and also to allow them to hold their parliamentary seats?," the President queried.

Mr. Sirisena claimed that the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) of which the SLFP is a constituent party, had written to the Speaker to secure the parliamentary seats of UPFA parliamentarians after they crossed over to the SLPP.

Commenting on the rift between himself and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the President said that the dispute was not a personal one but a result of differences in political policies.

"I replaced Mahinda Rajapaksa with Ranil (Wickremesinghe) as the Prime Minister. I did what no other state leader has done so far. I issued five gazettes to help Mahinda Rajapaksa to form a government," he said.

The President pointed out that despite taking such measures Mr. Rajapaksa could not command the majority in Parliament.

"Mahinda Rajapaksa is serving as an Opposition Leader thanks to a letter sent by the UPFA General Secretary to the Speaker," he added.