Gota not people’s request but MR family decision: UNP

Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa was named as the presidential candidate after a decision taken by the Rajapaksa family but he was not the person the people wanted nor was it the decision of the people, UNP Chairman Minister Kabir Hashim said.

We do not work according to any other agendas but according to the peoples' agenda. We should decide on getting ideas from the people and their feelings.

"The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) said during their National Convention in Colombo, that former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa was named according to the requirement of the people. But Gotabaya was not the person who was requested by people," he said.

"The SLPP named the national candidate forcing people to support them. But we do not name our candidate that way and we are not in a hurry. Even the date of the election has not announced yet," he said.

"We will name our candidate following a procedure according to the ideas of the people’s need, in a very democratic manner, he said.

"Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said in the rally that he had worked on a very democratic manner while listening to the people. But he had made that statement while breaking several regulations. He was elected to parliament as an MP from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Before he assumed duties in the SLPP, he should have resigned from parliament. By not doing so he has violated the SLFP party constitution. The former president had nominated a person with dual citizenship as the presidential candidate," he said. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)

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