Disparities in the agreements which the so-called common opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena signed with the United National Party (UNP) and Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and the one which he signed with the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) compelled me to leave the JHU,” former JHU legal adviser and Western Province Minister Udaya Gammanpila said yesterday.

Gammanpila said as per the agreement signed between Sirisena and the JHU, the Executive Presidency should be reformed and protected, whereas according to the agreement signed between the Sirisena and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and Chandrika, the Executive Presidency would be abolished.

How can you abolish the Executive Presidency and reform same at the same time?” asked Gammanpila. In this case, if Sirisena had told the truth to the UNP he had lied to the JHU. If he had told the truth to the JHU, he had lied to the UNP.”

There is no way that these two things can take place simultaneously. How can one expect to establish good governance with such characters?” he asked.

Asked if he did not take part in preparing the Memorandum of Understanding signed between Sirisena and the JHU as the party’s legal adviser, Gammanpila said: No. Not at all. I raised this issue about the mismatch in the documents. Regardless of my persistence, the JHU went ahead and signed the MoU with Sirisena without consulting the signatories of the UNP-Maithripala MoU.’’

I was silent during the whole process. That is why I never uttered a word in favour of Sirisena or the new alliance during that time.”

However, day by day I realized that my silence could bring disastrous consequences.

As Dr. Dayan Jayathilaka and President’s Counsel Manohara de Silva have pointed out the Executive Presidency is linked with the 13th Amendment and if we abolish the Executive Presidency without abolishing the 13th Amendment, Sri Lanka will be broken into pieces. I put country before the party, that is why I left the JHU.”

Asked if he is for the Executive Presidency or not, Gammanpila said: Not only me, but the JHU has been for the Executive Presidency until December 1, 2014.”

The JHU has been defending the Executive Presidency for the last 15 years. The JHU is of the view that the Executive Presidency should be reformed instead of abolishing it.”

Asked how he responds to allegations that he left the JHU for frills and perks, he said: Unfortunately some factions have made claims and some have spread various baseless allegations through social media that the government decided to write off my debts running to about Rs. 800 million.

I did not know that I am worth that much. However, I issue a challenge; if there is anyone, any individual who can prove the government has settled even a cent of my so-called debts, I will pay that individual that same value as a prize.

The same goes for those who say that I have taken perks from President Mahinda Rajapaksa. If they have any evidence to prove their claims I will give them the same amount as a prize”.

Commenting on the fate of the JHU in the wake of its support for Sirisena, he said by joining hands with Sirisena and anti-national politicians like Ranil Wickremesinghe, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Wickremebahu Karunaratne, the JHU has lost its credibility as a nationalist political party.