{"id":68396,"date":"2017-07-30T23:08:31","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T05:08:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=68396"},"modified":"2017-07-30T16:03:28","modified_gmt":"2017-07-30T23:03:28","slug":"still-i-am-the-president-of-the-slfp-i-didnt-resign-and-no-one-dismissed-me-i-can-even-convene-a-slfp-general-council-meeting-mahinda-rajapksa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2017\/07\/30\/still-i-am-the-president-of-the-slfp-i-didnt-resign-and-no-one-dismissed-me-i-can-even-convene-a-slfp-general-council-meeting-mahinda-rajapksa\/","title":{"rendered":"Still I am the President of the SLFP. I didn\u2019t resign and no one dismissed me. I can even convene a SLFP General Council meeting. \u2013 Mahinda Rajapksa"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Translated by : A.A.M.NIZAM \u2013 MATARA)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

He came to chat with us after finishing Yoga exercises and spending about another half an hour giving advises to his organisers by enquiring about the political situation throughout the country and, making arrangements to provide necessary facilities and solving relevant problems.<\/p>\n

It provided us more than some hints that Sri Lanka\u2019s 5th<\/sup> President Mr. Mahinda Raajapaksa was preparing for a political struggle.\u00a0 In an enquiry made based on from the political characters who were present and the history of electorates we understood that he was preparing for another political activity. Given below is a discussion with him held by te Sunday Divayina\u201d on contemporary political matters.<\/p>\n

Q: It seems that the Joint Opposition which gets ready for toppling the government has to postpone that temporarily and it has become necessary for them to consolidate their unity.\u00a0 Throughout last week there were media reports saying that the Joint Opposition has got divided.<\/p>\n

A: There is no such problem. Here there is a union of political parties holding different views and different agendas. The Communist Party is a group holding a different ideology.\u00a0 Mr. Tissa Vitharana;s Sama Saamaja Party is a party with a different political ideology. Wimal Weerawansa\u2019s National Freedom Front traverses on a different ideology.\u00a0 Udaya Gammnpila\u2019s Pivithuru Hela Urumaya is a Party that has its own ideology. Dinesh Gunawardene\u2019s Mahaana Eksath Peramunaa is one of our country\u2019s oldest political parties.\u00a0 Many political parties including the Sri Lanka Mahajana Party and Desha Vimukthi Party have joined together as the Joint Opposition. Here, we in the Sri Lankaa Freedom Party in the opposition have joined with them.\u00a0 These groups carrying forward the policies of the Sri Lankaa Freedom Party are forming a new political force.\u00a0 All these groups have the liberty of holding onto their political ideals.\u00a0 Similarly on various issues their opinions could be different.\u00a0 The Joint opposition has the democratic principle of acting jointly in relation to matters on which we can agree and hold discussions on matters regarding which we have differences. Our main objective has not changed due to any of these matters.\u00a0 All of us as the Joint Opposition stand together, against the corruptions, thuggery, political revenge, sale of public property on a plundering basis, giving concessions to terrorists and imprisonment of war heroes by this government.\u00a0 .<\/p>\n

The Joint Opposition will never get divided over the destructions being done by this picklish (achchaaru) government to this country, the nation and religion. The joint opposition would act as a force to save the country from these destructive measues.\u00a0 It is there we have our unity.\u00a0 We do not have any difference over this.<\/p>\n

Q: You are talking about the Sri Lankaa Freedom Party.\u00a0 Do you have any right to talk about this party to which you are scheduled to appear for a disciplinary enquiry?<\/p>\n

A: What disciplinary enquiry? I am still the President of the Party.\u00a0 I did not resign from the post of President of the Sri Lankaa Freedom Party.\u00a0 No one even dismissed me from the post of President of the Party.\u00a0 Like the appointment of the Prime Minister, from the minority of 46 UNP individuals.\u00a0 It does not become okay by saying that someone has been appointed. Our Prime Minister who had the majority power was not dismissed.\u00a0 He did not even resign.\u00a0 It is the same thing that was done to the Chief Justice,.\u00a0 He did not resign and was not even dismissed..\u00a0 It was a similar thing that was done to the Party.\u00a0 Still I am the President of the Party.\u00a0 I can even convene a General Council meeting of the Party.<\/p>\n

Q: If you still is the President of the Sri Lankaa Freedom Party why then a new party is being formed?<\/p>\n

A: Some people are using the \u2018seal\u2019 of the Party.\u00a0 And some people have apprised the Election Commissioner that they are this and that of the party.\u00a0 What the Election Commissioner says is acknowlegibg the requirement of those who hold power.\u00a0 Other than that he does not look at the Law.\u00a0 What he does is fulfilment of the requirement of the one who holds power.<\/p>\n

Q: It seems that the government is getting ready for an election.\u00a0 Are you ready to face an election?<\/p>\n

A: I have not postponed elections in this manner.\u00a0 I am a person who has held elections even before the scheduled time.\u00a0 I have never seen a government like this that played hide and seek games like this government fearful of holding elections. I do not think that these people will hold an election this year.\u00a0 The Provincial Council Elections will also be postponed by saying something.<\/p>\n

Q:From which party that your group will come forward for the elections?<\/p>\n

A: Now there are parties formed for that.\u00a0 The real SLFPers and those who are against the UNP and love the country and the nation have now joined together gainst the UNP and the gang that betrayed the Sri Lankaa Freedom Party. It is because of that those people who speak of democracy in fearful of us are postponing elections.\u00a0 That is because of their fear for us.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0 Due to lack of power for you a situation has arisen u nder which yoir children go to jail, go to commissions and courts, you too go to commissions and to courts, and your wife also go to commissions and courts. Isn\u2019t it not esay to face these harassments, and pressure?<\/p>\n

A: I have recognition from the people than the recognition I had when I was in power.\u00a0 Wherever I go they receive me very warmly.\u00a0 Therefore I do noy feel as I do not have power.<\/p>\n

Q: There is an opinion that you are attempting to re-acquire power to take revenge.<\/p>\n

A: All are aware that I am a person who does not take political revenge.\u00a0 The person who comes to power should take one decision. Ehrther go for taking revenge or to go for developing the counry.\u00a0 This is what has happened to this government.\u00a0 The more you delay development it creates more problems. That is what has happened to this country today.Rulers are appointed to fulfil the needs of the people. We will not resort to avenge those who take revenge from the people without fulfilling their responsibilities.\u00a0 I have not gone to take reveng from anyone.\u00a0 Sarathe Fonseka is not a politician.\u00a0 The Law was instituted against the conspiracies carried out by him in the Army and we did.not go to take revenge from anyone.<\/p>\n

Q: There is a chain of protest demonstrations and strikes throughout the country.\u00a0 Some people in the government say that you are the one who steer these actions by being behind the screen.<\/p>\n

A: When they sleep they become terrified by seeing me in the dream. It is to that extent they keep on thinking about me.\u00a0 Even if the Cabinet meet or discussed about any other thing they have no topic to discuss other than about me. People of this country is under an enormous pressure today. It should be understood first if they are ruling the country.\u00a0 There are either floods or droughts. Since the very day this government came into power people are confronted with problems and no consolation has occurred.\u00a0 People cannot bear the cost of living as taxes have been increased.\u00a0 The economic activities of the government have failed to the extent of selling the resources of the country to meet the food bill of the country.\u00a0 Today people even offer alms to the temples by mortgaging their valuables. The people have become so miserable.\u00a0 This is this pressure that makes the people to come out to streets.\u00a0 We are not respomsible for that.\u00a0 Today the indebtedness of the country has increased. By takimg short term loans on high interest rates the country has been strangled with indebtedness.\u00a0 It was for development of the country that we obtained loans.\u00a0 Those loans were not a burden for the country.\u00a0 Without arresting this pressure on the people it will not solve the problem of people coming out to the streets in protests by passing it on to us.<\/p>\n

Q: Some people say that there is a secret deal between you and the UNP.\u00a0 They say both these groups are carrying out a join programme against President Maithripala Sirisena?<\/p>\n

A: I have never done deals with the United National Party.\u00a0 When I was taking the UNPers to our government I was accused of destroying the UNP. Today those who betrayed the Sri Lanka Freedom Party to the UNP are accusing me of having deals with the UNP.\u00a0 Was it me who conspired with the UNP to defeat the Sri Lanka Freedom Party? Who contested against the Sri Lanka Freedom Party?\u00a0 Was it me who gave the power to the minority UNP putting aside the majority held by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party? Was it me who put aside the Sri Lanka Freedom Party Prime Minister and made the UNP leader as Prime Minister? The whole country is aware of who pulled our legs and conferred power to the UNP at the General Election.\u00a0 Who sent our people by giving posts of Ministers an d Deuty Minister and sent to the side of the UNP when it had only 106 seats? Was it me who went like that and formed a government with the UNP?<\/p>\n

Those people while eating in the same house are accusing us.\u00a0 I really feel sad about having dealt with these ungrateful people at one time.\u00a0 We do not have Court cases because I make deals with Ranil.\u00a0 They said that we will not be jailed because of our secret deals with the UNP. But my children were jailed.\u00a0 My brother Basil was jailed.\u00a0 Then where are the deals? These people after making very good deals with the UNP are attempting to pass that also to me.\u00a0 They accuse me of making deals with Ranil by being in Ranil\u2019s cabinet. This is the theory of pick-pocketeers.\u00a0 The pick-pocketeer after picking a pocket runs ahead of the xhasing crowd shuting Horaa, Horaa.\u00a0 I would like to ask from those who labelled us as thieves who is the richest family in this country.\u00a0 I would like to ask them which family obtains all contracts and tenders in this country?<\/p>\n

Q: There is an allegation that you do not talk much about the Treasury Bond robbers.\u00a0 Some people say that it is also a part of the alleged deal you have with the UNP.<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0\u00a0 It is we who talked about it first.\u00a0 If we did not talk about it that also would have been concealed. It was we who reveled to the country about this unprecedented mega robbery by those who were alleging us as thieves.Those who talked about family rule then are robbing by whole families today.\u00a0 Details about these robberies will also come to light very soon.<\/p>\n

Who appointed Arjun Mahindran as the Governor of the Central Bank?\u00a0 This swindling has taken place from the moment of appointing a Singaporean to that post.It was through the COPE report of Mr. D.E.W.Gunasekera that this swindling was revealed.\u00a0 It was the Presidwnt who dissolved the Parliament to prevent that report being presented to the Parliament.\u00a0 Not only he dissolved the Parliament but he also told the whole country about the action taken to prevent submitting of the COPE report. That was the first attempt taken to conceal this mega swindling. A Commission was appointed to enquire into this matter only when the joint opposition created awareness in the country about this unprecedented laarg scale robbery. Now revelations have ben mde aabout Ravi.\u00a0 It is necessary that revelations should surface about others as well. I spoke about it from the very beginning.\u00a0\u00a0 Our learned leaders are talking about this.\u00a0 Wimal is speaking about.\u00a0 The other day Mahindananda talked about it in the Parliament.\u00a0 We saw even the President was thumping on the table when Mahindananda delivered that speech.\u00a0 I do not attack anyone on a personal basis.\u00a0 How much Maithripala is scolding me. I am only saying things in a light manner.\u00a0 Even in election platforms I did not tell things which I was aware of.\u00a0\u00a0 Here there is a problem not only confined to Ravi.\u00a0 How many others are hiding underneath this?<\/p>\n

Q: Although it was said that 18 SLFP members in the government will join with you none of them have done so yet.\u00a0 When they will come?<\/p>\n

A: It can be 18 or can even bee 25.\u00a0 It can be 15 also.\u00a0 Here we should act strategically.\u00a0 We do not want to capture power by a mere change of headcounts.\u00a0 The JVP and the Tamil National Alliance are there to protect the government. We have to make our plans by calculating about these matters as well.\u00a0 I am not prepared to capture power by a mere change of headcounts without people\u2019s wish and approval. (end)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Translated by : A.A.M.NIZAM \u2013 MATARA) He came to chat with us after finishing Yoga exercises and spending about another half an hour giving advises to his organisers by enquiring about the political situation throughout the country and, making arrangements to provide necessary facilities and solving relevant problems. It provided us more than some hints […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aamnizam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68396\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}