UNP too weak to field own candidate: Mahindananda

The Minister of Sports Mahindananda Aluthgamage said that it is foreign forces that are behind the candidacy of Common candidate Maithripala Sirisena. 
In an interview with the Dailymirror he said that the current government is democratic and there is no room for corruption. While denying the allegations levelled by the opposition he said because the opposition cannot tolerate country bumpkin they come up with illogical arguments.

Don’t you think Maithripala Siresena’s defection is detrimental at this point?
From the beginning we knew the selection of the common candidate would happen in this manner. Even at the last Presidential election, the UNP did not present their own candidate. Rather they fielded General Sarath Fonseka as their candidate. That is because he was with the President at the last stages of the war. This is not what was expected by UNP or JVP supporters. It was the international hands that selected the common candidate. The present opposition is dancing to the tune of international forces.   

Even at this point, the people’s guesses have failed as to who would be the common candidate. Because the opposition was well aware that they cannot contest with President Rajapaksa they chose someone from the Government to destabilise its progress.

But don’t you think it was detrimental to the Government as there were a few others who crossed over with him?
Only two had from the SLFP. They are Duminda Dissanayake and N.K.D.S Gunawardena. People like Rajitha Senaratne do not remain with one party for more than three years. The other two who left were with the UNP earlier. 

But there is a rumour that more ministers would support the common candidate?
There is a rumour that more from the opposition will join the government.

You said the opposition is acting according to the wishes of the foreign forces. What are the forces?
Not only foreign forces but also dollars. There are many dollar exchanges behind the whole scenario. In this country it was either SLFP or UNP which had governments. Throughout history it was always UNP or SLFP leaders who contested as the presidential candidates and became presidents.  But for the first time in history the party leader of the UNP is not contesting this time. It is not because he cannot contest it is those foreign forces which prevent him from contesting. 

Mahinda Rajapaksa is someone who successfully fought against all these external forces and wiped out terrorism from this country. When many powerful nations attempted to influence our country President Rajapaksa stood firm. But what these external forces want is a person who does not have a backbone.  In other words they want a Muppet.

Are you trying to say that the common candidate is a Muppet?
Most certainly he is. I am sad about Maithripala’s plight. He was a person who we respected a lot.

In 2012 you said the government prefers to have Ranil Wickremesinghe as the opposition leader forever. Were you trying to say that the opposition is weak?
When you are a politician you look at things in a political angle. There is belief that the UNP voters liked Sajith Premadasa. They could have selected him. They could have selected a candidate from the UNP. All these activities have become a joke. Chamipka Ranawaka once stated that they do not want Ranil to be the executive Prime Minister. But now they say they agree to that. Also once they said they would not share a stage with the TNA. But now they are fine with that. Within a short span of time many things have changed. 

Champika Ranawaka is someone who got elected with the majority of Sinhala Buddhist votes. Don’t you think people will question when he agrees to share the same stage with the TNA?. At the end of the day these things are limited to characters and not parties. 

When Sarath Fonseka contested for the Presidential elections people were with him. But with Maithipala there are not many people like that. 

The whole of Colombo is covered with cutouts, banners and posters of the President. If the Government is not threatened why should they spend so much of money for advertising?
There had been no election without posters of the candidates? In 2005 there were many posters of Ranil Wickremesinghe and also in 2010 Sarath Fonseka’s. Sixty percent of our campaign is completed. We have established women’s forums, youth forums etc. Maithripala has not even started with his. He cannot match the difference. Therefore he says he is going to have a poster free campaign. That is an utter joke. There was not any poster free election so far.

Anyone knows what a campaign is. Advertising is a mandatory part in a campaign. If Maithripala says he is going to do a campaign without advertising that is the beginning of his defeat. 

But don’t you think advertising to this extent is unnecessary?
You feel that it is unnecessary because there are no posters of the common candidate. If there were his posters you would not say so. It is one class in Colombo who would see or complain about this type of advertising. We are country bumpkin. Villagers don’t complain about this.  Only when the party office is set up in the village that the SLFPer gets a kick. They get motivated to work for the election only when they see the blue flag. There is a way our party built and how we do elections. 

In 2005 when Ranil contested there were green flags for 100 kilometers from Colombo to Kandy.  Isn’t this advertising? There was no one to put flags for president Rajapaksa. The issue is that there is a class which does not like the person from the grassroots. 

There is an allegation by the Opposition that major portion of the budget is allocated to the Ministries which are under President Rajapaksa or his relatives. What do you have to say about this?
What is wrong with that? If the money allocated to them is used properly there is no issue in such allocation. Have you seen the drastic change in Colombo? People who lived in shanties have better living conditions now. If Gotabaya Rajapaksa did not become the Secretary of Defence do you think these things will be possible? Basil Rajapaksa who is the Minister of Economic Development is also doing a great job.  The issue is the others cannot tolerate the amount of work done by the President.

But these allegations cannot arise without a base. The opposition continuously challenged and highlighted corruption. Compared to earlier Governments the corruption under this government is higher?
What do they say about corruption? When we spoke about corruption under the UNP government we had “files” with us and we had all the documents. But what they call corruption is without a base. They would say the cost for constructing a road and compare with the estimated amount. You cannot speak about corruption like that. 

The moment the current government came in to power the opposition spoke about corruption. But people still voted Rajapaksa. Corruption was there during the period Ranil Wickremesinghe became the Prime Minister. There must have been corruption than what we have done during past forty years. 
Also the opposition does not have anything to complain about. Graduates have employment. The buildings and roads are well constructed. Because they have nothing to complain about they speak about corruption.  

It must be noted that it was not Rajapaksa’s who commenced family politics. It was there from the time D.S Senanayake was the Prime Minister. Since Ranil does not have children there is no family politics for him. If my son gets in to politics I would have done the same thing.  We cannot stop these things. Sajith Premadasa came in to politics because of his late father.

But you do accept that corruption occurs?
I do not say so. What I am saying is what the opposition say is not logical. 

At one point corruption charges were levelled at you? 
No, there are no such allegations. According to the  Bribery Act if you are a government servant and if there is a complaint against you, then you will be summoned to the Bribery Commission. Likewise due to a personal issue I was summoned to the Commission. The complaint is being investigated for over a period of one and half years. If found guilty I will be jailed. How  democratic is this government?

In 2002 around eighteen Ministers of the UNP government had corruption charges. But none of them were summoned to the commission. But in our government these things did not happen.

There was an allegation that you wear highly expensive shoes which a Minister cannot afford to buy?
That was a not a complaint directed at me. I love to dress well but I do not wear expensive clothes. In fact I openly asked the President about this allegation and the President said such an incident did not happen. President told Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga to correct that. However it did not happen.
I would love to wear shoes worth Rs.150,000 but unfortunately I cannot afford.

One Minister who joined the opposition said he was offered Rs.100 Million to stay in the Government. Is this true?
That Minister is a very good friend of mine therefore I do not wish to answer. 

Don’t you think the current situation shows a split in the SLFP. Especially when an Ex President from SLFP backs the common candidate?
No. People remain with the leader. Maybe she might secure a few votes.

But one of your brothers also joined UNP?
That incident happened about a year ago. He is not my own brother but a distant relative.

There was a sex scandal reported with regard to the women’s cricket team. What is happening with the investigation and what is the reason behind this?
We are conducting investigations at the moment. I cannot say anything about this at the moment. If a player has to complain they have to first complain to the team Manager. So far there has been no such complaint. We are conducting an investigation solely based on a newspaper report.

You said social media is responsible for the lack of performance of junior players. Why is that?
What I meant was that there is no commitment by the junior players like their seniors. They would go online. As sportsmen there is a time to sleep, to eat, etc. I told there needs to be discipline.

Do you think that on January 8 there will be a significant change in the country?
There are many forces against the President. Do you think TNA would get onto a stage with the common candidate without demanding Eelam? Definitely they would go for a federal system. It is up to the people whether to support the opposition backed by NGOs or the President who protected our land.