Nawinne joins UNP

Faults SLFP for including MR:

by Dhaneshi Yatawara

Former Minister and the Kurunegala District Leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) S.B. Nawinne yesterday crossed over to the ruling United National Party(UNP).

Speaking to the Sunday Observer soon after his defection, Nawinne said he was disheartened by the ill-treatment of the party stalwarts by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). “I was quite displeased by some of the recent happenings including the decision to give nomination to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa,” he said, noting, “What is happening within the SLFP is not good.”

Nawinna intends launching his election campaign from today (5).

Despite having worked with and for the SLFP throughout three decades, Nawinne said he was so displeased that he decided not to contest on the SLFP ticket at the forthcoming elections.

“The conduct of the former SLFP-led government in the last few years was unsatisfactory and unacceptable,” he added. 

In March this year, Nawinne was appointed as the Labour and Labour Relations Minister by President Maithripala Sirisena. 

Nawinna on Saturday afternoon addressed SLFP members in his electorate, Wariyapola, where he explained to party cadres that he could not reject the invitation from Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to join, in the current context. Questioned as to whether the SLFP supporters will view his cross over as a betrayal of the SLFP and loyalists, Nawinne said: “I have spoken to my supporters and I believe that they have faith in me. I have not left the Kurunegala people and have always stood by them and always will,” he added.

Extending a warm welcome to the senior politician, UNP Kurunegala District Leader and Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said, the defection reflected the lack of respect for senior politicians within the SLFP, causing frontliners to leave the party in utter dejection.

“With the decision to give nomination to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, there is lot of disenchantment among SLFP members. Meanwhile, four other parliamentarians are expected to cross over to the UNP, in the coming weeks. According to top SLFP sources MPs M.K.D.S. Gunawardene, Arundika Fernando, Shantha Bandara and Shehan Semasinghe top the list of crossovers.