Key Hela Urumaya and UNP leaders in Britain pledge support to the UFPA

JVP UK committee

Founder member of the Sihala Urumaya branch in UK and the secretary of the Organisation for the Protection of the Motherland Mr Ranjith Dasanayaka pledged his and his followers support to the Freedom Alliance at an election rally held by the Freedom Alliance in London. Speaking to a cheering audience, Mr Dasanayaka said that despite the huge sacrifices that he made to the success of the SU in UK, all Patriotic Sri Lankans have been severely let down by the narrow minded, tit-for-tat politics of the Hela Urumaya. He pleaded with the HU supporters in Sri Lanka and around the world to understand the present role of the HU of trying to split the anti UNP-LTTE alliance vote and urged them to support the Freedom Alliance to usher in a free, fair and a safe Sri Lanka.

Mr Dasanayaka's speech was followed by those of Messers Rohana Eliyathambi and Senarath Kalubowila. Mr Eliyathambi who is the joint secretary of the UK branch of the UNP said that now he understood the real agenda of the UNP and said that he has been used by that party for the past 12 years. Mr Kalubowila, a former UNP councillor pledged his support to the Freedom Alliance saying that only the FA could bring all Sinhala Tamil and Muslim Sri Lankans together to build a peaceful Sri Lanka.

The SLFP national list candidate for Aththanagalla, Mr Gamini Sumanasekara spoke on behalf of the PA on the principles on which an Alliance government would develop the country and solve it's multitude of problems. Further, he undertook to take any concerns that the audience had to the Alliance leadership. Mr Darshana Hettiarachchi, who spoke on behalf of the JVP said that defeating the UNP-LTTE separatist alliance was an essential pre-requisite for the solution of the national question of our motherland through discussion and other peaceful means. He also told the audience to inform their family and friends in Sri Lanka to give the Alliance a resounding mandate.

The rally was also addressed by former MP for Batticoloa Mr Saumyanathan who stressed that the development of a Sri Lankan national identity can be only done under an Alliance government since it was devoid of communal politics and Mr Douglas Wickramarathne who is the President of the Sinhala Association in the United Kingdom who said he was not a party political man, but that this election is beyond party politics and pledged his support for the Alliance. The rally, the second of the Freedom Alliance in UK, was chaired by Mrs Rani Bulathwala, the chairperson of the SLFP branch in Britain.