SB will not be appointed MP
No UNPer will fill vacancy:
by Shanika Sriyananda
The United National Party (UNP) will not appoint its National
Organiser S. B. Dissanayake as MP to fill the vacancy created after the
resignation of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Leader Rauf Hakeem who had
entered Parliament as a UNPer.
Hakeem who entered Parliament under the UNP list had resigned to
contest the last Eastern polls.
UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told the Sunday Observer that
neither the Working Committee nor the Political Affairs Committee of the
party has taken any decision on this matter and the party will not
appoint a UNPer to the vacant post.
"This seat is given to the SLMC and according to the understanding
between the two parties it will not be filled by the UNP. A SLMCer will
be appointed soon", he said.
Attanayake said that the Working Committee would appoint a Nomination
Board tomorrow and the UNP would take a decision on their activities
regarding the forthcoming elections, next week.
The UNP has appointed two committees headed by Ravi Samarasinghe for
the Sabaragamuwa Province and MP Lakshman Kiriella for the North Central
Province. "Election activities for the two provinces will be decided
following these two reports", he said.
Meanwhile, Attanayake refused the media reports on party decision to
appoint Dissanayake and Hambantota District MP Sajith Premadasa to lead
the party election campaign.
He said that the party had not yet decided to nominate S.B.
Dissanayake to the Chief Ministerial post of either provinces.
When contacted the UNP National Organiser said that the UNP would not
get back the seat given to the SLMC. He said that as he had lost his
civic rights, the party was now in the process of consulting legal
experts to look into the possibility of him to contest the elections.
"Until then I am the S. B. Dissanayake who has no civic rights", he
said adding that there are lots of requests from the UNP supporters to
lead the party campaign for the two provincial council elections. |
