Video: Wimal's party ready to go its own way

5 May 2014 06:16 pm

National Freedom Front (NFF) Leader and Minister Wimal Weerawansa said today that his party was ready to follow its own path if the government didn’t agree with them on following the path set by national forces for the welfare of the country.

Minister Weerawansa made this statement at the party’s 2nd National Convention held at the Sugathadasa Indoor stadium yesterday. The NFF didn’t participate in the May Day rally of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance coalition and instead has held a separate convention two years in a row.

“The election manifesto of the President, Mahinda Chinthanaya was 100 per cent drafted by National forces in 2005. It was altered by new forces during the 2010 presidential election and created a hybrid manifesto. Casinos and related moves are the alterations created by these new forces, which blow up time to time. We are asking the government to follow the national movements’ path. If it can’t do so we will no longer stay as these are two different paths that will never align,” he said.

He said the latest casino bill passed in parliament couldn’t be trusted as there were modified words added. “This was why we decided not to vote for the bill. If it was a ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ bill, it would still be pending in the parliament without being passed. This type of casino bills are hurriedly put forward and they get the approval,” he said.

While lashing out at the officers of the Finance and Planning Ministry, including its Secretary, the Minister said that they were destroying the economy of the country.

“These are the ones who are responsible for bringing casino mogul James Packer to the country. They want to make Sri Lanka a casino hub. There was a casino businessman called Josim who tried to set up casinos here during the time of President Ranasinghe Premadasa. What he really wanted to do was to tarnish the image of the President. Packer is the second Josim,” Minister Weerawansa said. (Lahiru Pothmulla)