17 July 2015 06:05 pm
Addressing the inaugural election propaganda rally at the Anuradhapura public ground he said a new set of leaders would also be created in the UPFA and the new government would develop new international relations while promoting inter communal harmony among Sinhalese, Muslims, Tamils and Burghers.
‘There will be new policies, new thinking and new work programmes, A new UPFA government would start probing PRA which was active in the 1989/90 insurgency and Batalanda. Bursaries of under graduates will be increased and University intakes will also be increased,” he stressed,
"They called me a thief for protecting the country from the most powerful and cruelest terrorists and constructing airports and for giving employment to 1.5 million in the public sector. They branded me as a fraudster for launching hundreds of development projects round the country," he said.
Mr. Rajapaksa alleged Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe could not tell the difference of a seer fish from a tuna, but he could easily identify a Parawa from a thora fish.
Mr. Rajapakasa said he never bowed down to foreign influence and therefore the foreign countries colluded with the UNP to defeat his government.
Mr. Rajapaksa said he never expected a public demand like the one that urged him to come back from his retirement after the Presidential poll in January and that was why he decided to re-enter politics from retirement. From the very first day he was visited by people from many walks of life from many parts of the country and expressed their solidarity and support to him,
He added that the people in Rajarata lived in constant fear and dead bodies of soldiers were brought to the villages from the war zone daily,
Mr, Rajapaksa assured that there would be a totally new UPFA government, new leaders and new policies after a UPFA victory on August 17.
UPFA Leaders Nimal Siripala De Silva, Susil Premajayantha, Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, Wimal Weerawansa, Dinesh Gunawardana and Prof. Tissa Witharana also spoke. (Sandun A. Jayasekera)