It was a wake up call: Dallas

10 October 2011 11:30 am

The ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) said today that the incidents that took place in the Mulleriyawa area on Saturday were a “wake up call” for the party. Speaking at a press briefing to acknowledge the UPFA win of 21 out of 23 local government elections held on Saturday Minister of Youth Affairs Dullas Alahapperuma stated that a thorough investigation would be conducted into the incident and therefore the party could not disclose any information till after the investigation.

 “Strict rules are in place that policeman or the Ministerial Security Division officials present should have been in uniform and carrying identification. However there is really no point in finding out who fired the first shot. This is really a catastrophe for us,” he said.

When questioned on why action was not taken against the persons prior to the election, when reports of their misconduct were received sooner, Mr. Alahapperuma defended the party action by stating that such punitive action would have disrupted campaigning. “In the past as well we have taken action after the elections. If we took action before that it would have caused an unfair disruption to the campaigning activities of our candidates,” he said.

He further added that there was no division in the party or any conflicts between the alliance partners. 

At the briefing General Secretary of the UPFA Susil Premajayantha stated although the UPFA had not won the Colombo Municipal Council the Development work in the city would continue under the Urban Development Authority since the city of Colombo belonged to all citizens of this country.

“The election results prove that the people of this country both urban and rural have given us their support. Earlier there was a claim that only the rural people were with us, but now it is clear that those from the cities are also with us,” he said. He went on to state that the strongholds of the United National Party (UNP) for many years had collapsed due to the strength of the UPFA.

General Secretary of the SLFP Maithreepala Sirisena speaking last morning stated that the “store houses” of political and monetary clout collected by the forefathers of the UNP had now diminished. (Dianne Silva)