NPC a facade: Karu

18 September 2013 08:53 am

Calling the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) elections as a façade, UNP deputy leader Karu Jayasuriya today charged that it was held merely as a ploy to satisfy the international community, and not as a genuine attempt to allow the people in the North to democratically elect their own leaders.

“The government considered it a victory to hold NPC elections, but at the same time Minister Basil Rajapaksa said that it would not go any further than this.
“What is the government telling the people of the North? They are saying; we will give you elections, but beware do not elect the TNA,” Jayasuriya said adding that the government was influencing elections through this kind of indirect political coercion.

He also said that this kind of coercion was visible not only in the North but also in the Central and the North Western Provinces as well.

Raising further issues of lapses of the ruling party Mr. Jayasuriya praised the statement made by Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka that, “if things proceed in this manner, casino moguls will choose the cabinet members”.

He accused the government of going back on their own principles by condoning the setting up of casinos in stark contradiction of the age-old SLFP principles.

“Former SLFP leader S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike forbade the betting on horse racing, let alone casino gambling. On principle, the SLFP has always been against gambling. Yet, the present UPFA leaders are trying to introduce casinos as a major financial contributor and are trying to establish a different financial policy altogether in which casinos will play a pivotal role,” Mr. Jayasuriya said.

Commenting on the vices that would come with the setting up of casinos, he said government had given no thought to the resulting social degradation but only was considering the financial gain. (Yohan Perera and Jehan Gunasekara)