UNP more in leadership fight than LG polls

by Uditha KUMARASINGHE

Foreign Employment and Welfare Minister Dilan Perera said that the UNP was in the fray for the leadership rather than win the forthcoming Local Government polls.

The Minister told the Sunday Observer that the UNP is not interested in grabing power at the Local Government polls. They are fighting for party leadership. Two factions in the UNP-the Sajith faction and the Ranil faction are fighting each other and using the Local Government election forum to tell their UNP supporters,”I am the better leader”.

The country knows both of them. Ranil Wickremesinghe has been an utter failure as a Leader and it is well known not only to UNPers but also the world over. Sajith is attempting to bring back the Premadasa era, but we know only too well what happened during that time, he said.

The Minister said that during the Premadasa era, the youth were killed at every junction. It was also during the Premadasa era that 800 police officers were asked to surrender to the LTTE. All of them were killed by the LTTE within 48 hours. Therefore, the country knows that the Ranil and Premadasa eras are the same.

People are interested in the Mahinda Rajapaksa era since it was only President Rajapaksa who defeated LTTE terrorism and took steps to improve the quality of life of his people.

He has launched many programs to accelerate economic development in the country. As a result, the country has achieved 8 percent economic growth. After independence, it was only during President Rajapaksa’s regime that the country achieved an economic growth of over six percent in four consecutive years.

Therefore, the voters will bring back the UPFA into power in all Local Government bodies, the Minister said.

Asked whether the escalation of prices of some essential food items would have an adverse effect on the Government at the Local Government polls, the Minister said the country is well aware that the prices of some essential food items had gone up due to natural disasters and not because of the Government.

Rains, floods and landslides will not only affect the day-to-day lives of the people but also the country’s production.

Naturally prices go up when the demand is higher than the supply the Minister said.

He said, “It is a known fact that the prices of some essential food items have increased while others have dropped. At present the price of potatoes, an essential food item has dropped.”