UPFA's May Day rally proves masses' faith in Govt

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

Environment and Renewable Energy Minister Susil Premajayantha said the mammoth UPFA May Day rally at Campbell Park was evidence of the faith reposed in the Government by the masses due to the unshakable polices of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Most people are well aware that had it not been for the President we wouldn't have achieved peace. Therefore, the people know that if they loose this hard earned peace, the country would return to its dark past. At present there is nobody who could challenge the President and the Government, the Minister told the Sunday Observer.

Commenting on the UNP's decision to hold three May Day rallies at different venues, the Minister said this clearly showed the UNP's inability to conduct even a proper May Day rally in Colombo.

Nevertheless they are talking about a regime change in 2014. However, the next presidential and general elections will be held in 2016. Although the UNP talks about a regime change, they are not in position to even organise a May Day rally properly in Colombo. This showed the UNP present plight, the Minister said.

Minister Premajayantha said the UPFA May Day rally was the largest in recent times. Some constituent parties of the UPFA such as the NFF, LSSP, CP and some Tamil parties upcountry held separate May Day rallies. Some of those May Day rallies were also represented by Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa and UPFA parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa. As a practice, some of these UPFA constituent parties have held separate May Day rallies. However all of them are functioning together under the UPFA. If anybody were to compare the May Day rallies of the Government constituent parties and the Opposition, he could notice the vast difference between them. Holding separate May Day rallies by some UPFA constituent parties do not mean that they are functioning separately. They always work together with the Government, he said.