SLFP gets open invitation to join SLPP
Posted on September 9th, 2019
Lahiru Pothmulla Courtesy The Daily Mirror
SLPP Chairman Professor G.L. Peiris today extended an open invitation to the SLFP to join his party saying the most desired symbol to contest the presidential election was the lotus bud.
Addressing a news briefing held today at the party office in Battaramulla, Prof. Peiris said the SLPP was akin to the ancestral home of the SLFP and asked what practical obstacle the SLFP had to join it.
During the several rounds of discussions held, the two parties agreed upon more than 20 points based on principle. We have always been sensitive, accommodative and flexible in these talks. If decided to join, we welcome the SLFP with open arms,” he said.
He said the SLFP had stated it was a kingmaker but was incapable of living up to it.
“The bulk of votes the SLFP has is limited. Although it is not many, the SLFP is of the opinion that its voter-base is crucial. The issue is whether they will use it to strengthen the country. At the SLFP convention, MP Nimal Siripala de Silva said the SLFP should think to which party it was closer. We don’t think there will be a doubt about the final answer. Both parties have the same set of principles and share the same vision,” he said.
Furthermore, he said it was unlikely that the SLFP joined with the UNP which had governed the country for over four years in an irresponsible and ineffective manner.
Can the SLFP join a party accused of being irresponsible during the Easter terror? Is this what the SLFPers want? Its other option is to field one of its own as the presidential candidate, but it is clear that it doesn’t expect to win the election by doing so. Does that mean it is trying to back the UNP candidate? It seems such a decision will strengthen the UNP. The SLFP should think in-depth about this,” he said.
Responding to questions on the SLFP’s concern over the lotus bud symbol of the SLPP, Prof. Peiris said it was the most desired symbol among political parties. “This was evident at the previous local government elections,” he said.
September 9th, 2019 at 2:34 pm
The GREED for POWER of SLFP leaders like Dayasiri is TRUMPING their Love of Lanka! It is MIND BOGGLING! SUCH SELF-CENTERED FOOLS!
Dayasiri poses as a quintessential SLFPer just because he is its General Secretary, but he is in REALITY a Johnny Come Lately Refugee from the UNP! So, is his ALLEGIANCE STILL WITH the UNP, that he tries so hard to SINK the OPPOSITION to the UNPatriotic Party over the Pohottuwa Election Symbol? Will the hundreds of thousands of PATRIOTIC SLFPers ever forgive them if their POWER PLAYS lead to the UNP winning again?
These FOOLISH BUGGERS will not have a LEAF to HIDE UNDER if the UNP WINS due to their GREED and IDIOCY!
This is the TIME for ALL THOSE WHO LOVE LANKA to JOIN HANDS with the Pohottuwa and SEND the Yamapalanaya HOME!
September 9th, 2019 at 3:06 pm
මේ දයාසිරි ජයසේකර අර ගැටීමක් නැති තැනක ගැටීමක් ඇතිකිරීමට හාල් මැස්සෙක් ගල්කැටයක් ගෙනල්ලා තල්මහෙකුට ඉස්සරහ තියල මේක මගේ කිව්වා වගේ. මේ මිනිහට එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය පරාජයකරන්න පොහොට්ටුවත් එක්ක එක්වන්නේ නැතිව තව තව කොන්දේසි දානවානම් උන්ට කුදගහගන්න කියලා පොදුජනපෙරමුන පොහොට්ටුවේ සලකුණ සමග තනියම ජන්දයට ඉදිර්පත්වෙන්නයි තියෙන්නේ. අද තියන හැටියට ජනාධිපති අපේක්ස්ෂවරු වැඩිවෙලා. නමුත් පොදුජනපෙරමුනට සිංහල බෞද්ධ හා ක්‍රිස්තියානි පාක්ෂිකයන් එක්ව දිනන්ට පුලුවන්. ඒ සඳහා අවුරුදු 2500 කටත් වැඩි ඉතිහාසයක් තියන සංස්කෘතියක් තියන අපේ රට බෙරගන්න පොහොට්ටුවේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂකයාවන ගොටාභය රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමාට හැම සිංහලයෙක්ම ආගම් බේදයක් නැතිව චන්දය දිය යුතුයි. එසේ නොවුනහොත් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය දිනාවි. එහෙනම් ඒ අපේ කර්මය. අපේ බෞද්ධ සිංහල රටේ අවසානයයි. එකයි තිත්ත ඇත්ත,
September 9th, 2019 at 3:40 pm
“ඒ සඳහා අවුරුදු 2500 කටත් වැඩි ඉතිහාසයක් තියන සංස්කෘතියක් තියන අපේ රට බෙරගන්න පොහොට්ටුවේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂකයාවන ගොටාභය රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමාට හැම සිංහලයෙක්ම ආගම් බේදයක් නැතිව චන්දය දිය යුතුයි.”
This is a command without conditions attached casting faith on a person not 100% good record. Sorry, cannot risk that anymore. People gave a long period of 6 years after the war. As he himself said recently 75% land was released to Tamils by him. What happened to land belonged to Sinhalese , stolen by LTTE ? He did nothing. Please read 2015 manifesto and 2005 one too. It is all about promises to resettle Muslims not a single statement mentioning resettling Sinhalese in the North.
If he is not put forwarding any credible proposals such as getting rid of 13A, NO, people should vote for those who bring such proposals and specially “concrete proposals” regardless of who is winning or loosing. There is not much difference between all major clans at the moment. All are promising dreaded “DEVOLUTION”.
If UNP won (by any remote chance) we have a lot of opposition ( including deshapremiyos you think they are) to oppose , give all the trouble to stop them doing nasty things AND also ‘some’ freedom to protest. There is no risk.
Therefore , I beg all, NOW IT IS THE TIME TO DEMAND NOT COMMAND.
Please do not ask හැම සිංහලයෙක්ම to vote without ‘concrete proposals’ to re-establish the 2500 year inheritance of සිංහල people. You are a betrayer, if you do that based on your personal desires.
September 9th, 2019 at 4:10 pm
“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueby6XFOMr4”
Some inaccuracies but a good description of our near history.
September 9th, 2019 at 4:37 pm
The battle has done some good. Sirisena has decided to increase pension of retired militarymen by 25,000 rupees. Hope it will go ahead. Now they cannot be promised goodies and win their vote.
This is a sizable Sinhala patriotic vote base. I appealed to so and so in 2014 to do it but he refused. He was kind enough to respond to me. I understand the economics but if the government has billions of dollars to be wasted in the north, paying 25,000 rupees to those who sacrificed so much for the nation is nothing.
Sirisena has also taken over the state television under his control. He is up to something.
As the presidential election must be held by December 7, the declaration must come before October 7.
According to news sources one popular candidate had met the EC to ask him if the election could be held on November 23 which according to astrology is good for him. But according to same astrology he has no “raja yoga”. One cannot believe some parts of astrology and not others. Don’t believe it completely (best) or take both sides.
September 9th, 2019 at 4:45 pm
@Charles
Quote – ඒ සඳහා අවුරුදු 2500 කටත් වැඩි ඉතිහාසයක් තියන සංස්කෘතියක් තියන අපේ රට බෙරගන්න පොහොට්ටුවේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂකයාවන ගොටාභය රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමාට හැම සිංහලයෙක්ම ආගම් බේදයක් නැතිව චන්දය දිය යුතුයි.
Has he promised to protect the Sinhala Buddhist heritage of 2,500 years from its threats? I haven’t heard. More importantly has he included that in the manifesto or any other document? No.
Then how can we trust him or anyone else? Surely, he is far better than anyone UNP can bring. But still he falls short of the nation’s requirement.
I believe that with a little push and a threat of defeat, he can be brought to the right path. (If he fails, then he must lose.)
September 9th, 2019 at 6:03 pm
Any adult Sri Lankan citizen with sufficient intellect to appreciate the highly nuanced presentation of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa at the Third Annual Convention of Viyath Maga at Hotel Shangrila in Colombo on September 8 will realise that he is not going to soft pedal on or ignore altogether any burning issue that is plaguing the country at present, out of fear of physical danger or a concern for self-aggrandizement or political expediency or political correctness. The eminent audience was worthy of him; their presence on the occasion and their enthusiastic reception of Gota’s speech should also be factored in any ‘reading’ of his address.
September 9th, 2019 at 11:51 pm
My election forecast about a month ago read 53% for GR but now 50% seems more likely. If UNP wins 90% of minority votes, they only need 34% of Sinhala votes to beat GR/CR. Sirisena holds the key. If Sirisena doesn’t support SLPP or if he supports the UNP candidate, getting 34% is not that difficult for the UNP.
As with most presidential elections (1988, 1999, 2005 and 2015) this is also getting into a closely contested battle despite the extreme unpopularity of the UNP. People are rather foolish to forget their daily problems and get excited over an election!
Sirisena wants to delay the election as long as he can so he can frame GR for whatever case. However, his days are running out. Presidential election must be declared within the next 27 days.
September 10th, 2019 at 12:00 am
“If wishes were horses, beggars would ride!”
September 10th, 2019 at 2:23 am
@Dilrook
Don’t forget my prediction. Either Sirisena OR Popular candidate will contest. Because, I think they are same team.
If that prediction comes true, very dangerous. (Sirisena will never do what you say. Let us wait and see !)
If not, it is good.
Meanwhile let us repeat the DEMANDS. Who knows everyone may agree.
Listen to the talk above. Is there anything wrong he is saying ? Very minor. Lucky we have this man, to teach people the facts. TRUTH will WIN.
September 10th, 2019 at 5:56 am
Randeniyage You are vague, who,are you really backing UNP, JVP or Nagananda ? There is no one other possible antoganists to GR. One really does not know who are the rest of the 14 Presidential Candidates. Randeniya perhaps knows some one amoung them who is perhaps his choice ?
Dilrook GR did not say any thing about backing Buddhism, but it is evident that he will ? He speaks clearly of the program he proposes and one can certainly depend on him to do his best to take the Country forward, doing what is best foer the people.
September 10th, 2019 at 1:40 pm
No worry about the SLFP joining hands with the SLPP. Wether SLFP joins the SLPP or not, the Lotus Bud will blossom and SLPP will be in power in the near future, both the executive and legislative, i.e. President and Parliament. Lotus has blossommed in India and BJP is in power, now the lotus is going to blossom in Sri Lanka.
September 10th, 2019 at 3:15 pm
@Charles
I thought I am very clear. Why should everyone back one party of one candidate ? For what reason ? I am backing my country ONLY.
Don’t you know people have changed in Sri lanka now ? Lot of people don’t back certain parties or individuals any more ? They have grown up not to beleive anyone.
Please watch the Youtube given above. Is the speaker backing any party or individual ?
Charles, you are simply backing an individual. All I am asking is please keep writing now without praising him but threatening to leave him unless your demands are met. That is all I am asking. Please keep on writing but do not praise. Do not try to impose your strong alliance to individuals into reader’s mind. It will not happen.
At the moment there are two imperative DEMANDS.
1. Get rid of Palaath Sabha
2. Remove minority laws.
Your candidate has not promised any of these at the moment. Force him to do so. Anyone can talk or read a carefully written script.
September 11th, 2019 at 1:03 am
@Charles
Never assume things. People change. “Anichcha” is a universal truth. Gota, you and I cannot defy it.
The 2005 presidential election would have ended up like 1999. Chandrika was better than Ranil but could not achieve anything significant for the country. But in 2005 JVP and JHU didn’t support Mahinda. It was obvious he was going to lose. Then he agreed to JVP and JHU demands at the Dalada Maligawa to fight off the LTTE. If he was not desperate, he could not have won the election and we would not have won the war. If he had the support CBK had in 1999 he would have told Sinhalese to go fly a kite as he was the comparatively better candidate.
Gota would do same if he is certain to win. If he is uncertain to win, he will be desperate to agree to Sinhala demands. We must create that uncertainty.
(In 2014 Mahinda famously dumped JHP’s 12 points patriotic demands and NFF’s 9 points patriotic demands. And he rightly lost!)
Sinhala people must be like “kaththata polla” with their politicians. That is the only way to get things done. Otherwise Sinhala people become doormats.
Minorities are like this. Muslims realised UNP was not delivering enough. So divided the UNP by creating SLMC. Then both became a little useless. Then they created ACMC. Now UNP and SLMC are working overtime to win over Muslims.
TNA is the same. TNA does not do any work. But TNA get things done through Mahinda, Sirisena, Ranil, etc. by making threats. Ultimately Tamils benefit. TNA has not built a toilet but they have got Mahinda, etc. to do it and Tamil people understand it.
CWC is also same. Tea industry is nationally unprofitable. It is sustained purely by CWC votes. So the country subsidises the useless industry which saves half a million Upcountry Tamils.
September 11th, 2019 at 5:07 am
Watch this. An excellent analysis.
“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IvRI_40Wqs”
September 11th, 2019 at 6:20 pm
Inviting a certain cricketer to “Viyath Maga” shows lack of political experience on the part of GR. He is hardly an intellectual (“Viyath”) and now social media is full of credible news reports about him published either in the Hansard or in established newspapers. Cheap popularity cannot fix the problems facing the nation.