Yohan Perera Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa today said he had invited UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to join the Samagi Jana Balawegaya together with his party.

Mr. Premadasa told a press conference that he had met Mr. Wickremesinghe together with Samagi Jana Balawegaya General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara and invited him and the UNP to join the alliance and to participate in the launch of the new alliance at Nelum Pokuna on March 2 2020.

I met Mr. Wickremesinghe and invited him and his party to join the Samagi Jana Balawegaya and he will also participate in the launch and the MOU signing ceremony on March 2, 2020,” Mr. Premadasa said.

Asked under what symbol under which his alliance would contest the general elections, Mr. Premadasa said these will be decided upon later. We will go step by step and everything will be decided upon soon,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) led by MP Mano Ganesan officially joined the new alliance yesterday and announced the new move at the joint press conference with Mr. Premadasa. Accordingly all three parties which include TPA, namely Democratic People’s Front, Up Country People’s Front and the National Union of Workers will contest the general election with the Samgai Jana Balawegaya.

We have officially joined the new alliance led by Mr. Premadasa and will work towards forming a new government,” Mr. Ganesan said.

Asked as to why his party decided to go along with these in the previous government despite the decision taken by the present government to grant the daily wage of Rs.1000, Mr. Ganesan said the previous government granted a number of other demands to the estate workers.

The previous government provided free land, constructed houses and schools for the estate workers, and that is why we joined them,” he said. He said it is left to be seen whether the Rs.1000 daily wage would become a reality or not.