Will not accept Prime Ministerial candidature without party leadership : Sajith

Former minister and UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa said he will not accept the Prime Ministerial candidature at the next general election without obtaining the leadership of the United National Party.

Mr Premadasa while thanking the public for their support of his presidential candidature at a gathering in Kotte yesterday (Dec 17) made this statement.

“In the recent past, various parties and media have announced that the prime ministerial nomination at the next general election will be given to me. But the stand I had taken even during the Presidential election was that I would contest alongside  the party leadership if I was to contest the election," Mr Premadasa said.

Further Mr Premadasa said that however, at the request of the request of the people and party activists, he went into the presidential election without trying to engage in internal politics.

The former minister said that without the party leadership, he had no intention of becoming the prime ministerial candidate at the next general election. Mr Premadasa said that the position of prime ministerial candidate was not important to him.

He said that in as much as he wanted the party, he also wanted to protect it from divisions and for the party to move forward in a united manner.