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Samaraweera invites Chandrika to join party

B. Muralidhar Reddy

Goal is to embark on a fresh and dignified political journey

COLOMBO: On the eve of the formal launch of his Sri Lanka Freedom Party (Mahajana), the former Foreign Minister, Mangala Samaraweera, has invited the former President, Chandrika Kumaratunge, to join and guide it in a “new direction”.

Making a special statement in Parliament, Mr. Samaraweera who along with another dissident SLFP member and sacked Minister, Sripathi Sooryarachi, crossed over to the Opposition benches on Tuesday, said the goal of his party would be to embark on a fresh and dignified political journey in conformity with the socialist democratic principles of the SLFP as outlined by the party’s founder leader, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, at the party’s inaugural convention in September 1951.

“I would like to extend an invitation to former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaranatunge, a woman who despite tremendous obstacles gave direction to the party and the country, to join us in our struggle to guide the party in the right direction,” he said.

“Though she has emphatically stated that she is out of active politics, I respectfully request that she join us in order to solely protect the party,” he said.

“It is a sad moment when we have to sit with the Opposition when a Government that we helped elect is in power. It is an ironic twist of fate. However, the little consolation I have is that I am not alone in my profound disappointment with the Government and the President we worked tirelessly to elect.”

Mr. Samaraweera recalled the late Bandaranaike’s statement at the party’s inaugural sessions: “We are democratic because our party does not tolerate one man’s or a group’s dictatorship. We are a genuine party of the people. However, 56 years after the SLFP was formed, we are seeing a complete reversal of these noble principles. Today the party is being run by a quartet of brothers”.

The former Minister said more than 1,00,000 innocent Tamil people were in refugee camps. These citizens who for years had suffered under the LTTE are now suffering under the Government. Instead of winning their hearts and minds by earnestly seeking a political settlement to the ethnic question which will bring forth an honourable and durable peace and enshrine the rights of all citizens, the Government is pushing them into the lap of the LTTE, he alleged.

“Today there is no room within the party for internal debate or dissent. At a recent All Island Committee meeting convened at extremely short notice by an executive order, party members were ordered to approve a document that was said to offer the SLFP’s solution to the ethnic conflict. No member was allowed to study this document nor were they given copies of it.

This is in stark contrast to President Kumaratunga’s period when party officials were hosted to a three-day workshop to discuss the pros and cons of the ‘Council of regions proposals’ of the SLFP in 1997.

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