6 September 2016 06:06 pm
PHU General Secretary MP Udaya Gammanpila said it was not the practice of the SLFP to form a Government alone.
“Except in 1991, the SLFP lost whenever it contested at elections by itself. That party always went ahead with the backing of other progressive political parties,” he told a news conference.
During the 65th Anniversary of the SLFP, which was held on Sunday, President Maithripala Sirisena, the Chairman of the SLFP, said that they would contest the upcoming elections for the local government bodies alone.
The PHU and several other parties, including the National Freedom Front (NFF) and the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP), contested the previous Parliamentary elections under United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) ticket in which the main constituent is the SLFP.
Commenting on the new development, MP Gammanpila said President Sirisena was a ‘Terminator’ sent by the United National Party (UNP) to destroy the SLFP.
“The decision to contest alone is the final nail on the coffin of the SLFP. The entire situation is similar to the Hollywood movie Terminator, where an alien was sent on a destructive mission,” he said.
When asked about the impact the new decision would make on PHU, he said they would not accept invitations extended by the President to join.
“We joined the UPFA to form a government but one faction formed a coalition with the UNP instead. We are not ready to commit the same mistake twice,” Gammanpila said. (Lahiru Pothmulla)
Video by Janaka