SB urges UNPers to support President

Former UNP National Organiser S.B. Dissanayake made an open request to UNPers to join with him to strengthen the hand of President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the forthcoming Presidential polls.

He said he believed that President Rajapaksa is the only political leader in the country’s history who gave unwavering political leadership to bring the 30-year-old ethnic war to an end. He said that starting from J.R. Jayewardene all past Presidents and Prime Ministers including Chandrika Banadaranaike Kumaratunga and Ranil Wickremesinghe gave into international pressure and withheld military offensives against the LTTE but President Rajapaksa whilst tolerating the West continued his mission until Prabhakaran was killed at the Nandikadal Lagoon last May.

“This leader who gave political leadership to end the war, is the only hope to develop the country. He is the leader for all communities and also the only leader who can feel the pulse of the common man”, he said. Dissanayake said that though the Opposition Leader Wickremesinghe preached democracy, he does not allow space for democracy to emerge within his party. “I can say the UNP has only .0001 percent democracy due to Ranil.

He does not allow anyone else to be popular. He wants to hold the leadership for ever”, he said.

He said that Ranil wanted to bring Sarath Fonseka only as a cover up and wanted to see him losing the elections.

Then, he could turn around and, say that all this happened because he couldn’t contest and Fonseka is a newcomer to the scene. Full interview on page 6