P.Ariyasinghe, Melbourne

At a recent media conference Maithripala Sirisena had said, ‘When Mahinda Rajapakse claimed at an interview that nobody was going to challenge him, I was next to him and felt sorry for him… I came out because I could not stay anymore with a leader who plundered the country, govt and national wealth…’ Therefore, Sirisena is a snake under grass as he had been in the govt as a Minister all these years basking in the President’s popularity and enjoying all the plums of office, and waiting to be Prime Minister. But as this did not materialize he became a desperate man.

Chandrika who is after power and who wanted to come back to politics took this opportunity and convinced him that he could be President instead of being a Prime Minister! The opposition had no proper candidate as both Ranil and Sajith had backed out . So Sirisena took the bait. If someone from the UNP had come forward, Sirisena would still be with the Govt. Chandrika who is in the background wrecked the country during her period as President for 11 years. She talks about ‘Family bandyism’. But what about appointing her mother as Prime Minister and her brother as Speaker of the House? The Opposition is not short of Funds as the West is pumping money against Rajapakse for a regime change.

Sirisena’s talk about good governance, corruption, wrongdoing, commissions and so on are to mislead the public. Further, he cannot claim that he is a saint and that he was not corrupt. He had also pledged to deal with alleged war crimes by giving a free hand to the west. So obviously, the President who rescued the country from terrorism would be charged for war crimes !

The Colombians are for Sirisena. But the rural folk, whose sons fought the war, are for Mahinda for salvaging the country from terrorists. Maithripala Sirisena is nothing but an opportunist.