SLFP likely to break-up with UPFA

23 August 2015 09:02 pm

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) headed by President Maitripala Sirisena and its newly appointed officials are contemplating the termination of its political affiliation with the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), informed sources said yesterday.

The SLFP is the main constituent of the UPFA which was formed in 2004. Its other constituent parties are the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP), Sri Lanka Mahajana Party (SLMP), Desavimukthi Janatha Party (DJP), the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) and the National Unity Alliance (NUA).

The Communist Party (CP), the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and the National Freedom Front (NFF) had aligned with the UPFA though not being members of the alliance and governed by its constitution.

The present SLFP leadership believes that the alliance partners had gained the upper hand in the UPFA by pushing aside the SLFP. They were in the forefront of the 'bring back Mahinda campaign' and had backed former President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the general election.

Meanwhile, the UPFA allies are consulting legal experts over the possibility of retaining the UPFA’s betel symbol in case SLFP breaks ranks with the alliance. A section in the SLFP is also not in favour of moving away from the UPFA.