22 April 2010 05:30 am
National Freedom Front (NFF) Leader Wimal Weerawansa has slammed UPFA General Secretary Susil Premajayantha claiming that he has become ‘swollen headed’ with power after the UPFA failed to allocate two national list slots for his party, as promised before the General Elections.
Voicing his strong anger against receiving only one slot in the UPFA National List, Weerawansa told journalists today that Premajayantha had misinterpreted the mandate given by the people at the recently concluded General Elections.
“Susil Premajayantha maybe the Secretary of the UPFA but he has no right to make decisions on behalf of the other parties,” Weerawansa, whose party is a UPFA ally, said.
“On being informed that we were not going to get the two slots as promised I requested that we should be given both the slots or no slots at all,” he explained adding that Susil Premajayantha took the decision on his own to include Achala Jagoda and drop the name of former MP Mohammed Muzammil.
He added that if his party was informed before that they not going to receive the two slots on the national list, they would have made one of the two who were promised the slots to contest in the Parliamentary Elections.
General Secretary of the UPFA, former Education Minister Susil Premajayantha responding to the negative remarks made by NFF leader Wimal Weerawansa on the appointment of UPFA national List members said the list of 17 members was sent to the Elections Commissioner following the consensus reached by all constituent parties of the UPFA.
Representatives of the constituent parties took a policy decision to appoint one each from a constituent party to the final National List at the discussion held to determine how the 17 slots allocated to the UPFA should be shared. It was not a decision taken by one individual but through the consensus of all political parties that supported the UPFA, Mr. Premajayantha said.
“I cannot act arbitrarily as the General Secretary of the UPFA and I work according to the collective agreement taken by all constituent political parties of the UPFA. The party representatives were appraised about the consensus agreed to appoint only one member to the National List from each party and I worked accordingly,” Mr. Premjayantha said.