13 December 2017 10:29 am
Sparks flew at the Green party’s Colombo district nominations selection committee which met the other day when the Tree party bigwigs insisted on being given a lion’s share on the city list. The Tree party leaders had argued that the Muslim vote being the decisive factor given the large concentration of Muslims in the city their party deserved more candidates on the joint list.
Mariks from Kolonnawa who took exception to the stand taken by the Tree party leaders warned them not to play the communal card that they had been playing in the East. “Don’t try to stoke communal flames here in Colombo! Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims are living in perfect harmony in the Colombo. Don’t try to create unnecessary trouble here,” he told the Tree big guns.
As tempers and tensions ran high, the members of the nominations committee had to put aside their main task and make a bid to bring about a measure of conciliation among the participants who were yelling at one another in anger.