Unconditional support for President Rajapaksa - National Congress Leader

by P.Krishnaswamy

Reiterating his unconditional support to President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the January 26 Presidential poll, leader of the National Congress (NC), Minister U.L.M. Athaulla said that the President has virtually fulfilled everything which their party sought for the political and economic welfare of the Eastern population while also achieving much more on a national level during his four years in office.

The NC leader was speaking at a media conference on Friday at the Galadari Hotel. He was accompanied by party members of local government bodies in the Eastern province.

In a sense it is a new independence that the President has achieved for the country after totally eliminating the three decade long terrorist threat and the looming uncertainty.

He is a great national leader and it is the bounden duty of every citizen of this country, irrespective of political, religious or linguistic differences, to re-elect him as an act of gratitude to a lofty patriotic leader, Minister Athaulla said.

Abolishing the Executive Presidential system is detrimental to the interests of the minorities. CWC founder leader Soumiyamurthy Thondaman was able to get citizenship rights for the stateless people of Indian origin under the Executive Presidency and Muslim leader M.H.M. Ashraff got 12 % cut off point for parliamentary representation reduced to five under the system. And rooting out terrorism also became possible under the system, Minister Athaulla said.

It was the UNP that introduced the Executive Presidential System and Ranil is now talking about abolishing it merely because he could not rise to that position. Iconic political figure of the Eastern Muslims and founder of both the National Unity Alliance (NUA) and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), M. H. M. Ashraff, remarked that the Muslims cannot even think about supporting UNP as long as Ranil Wickremesinghe remained its leader but the present leadership of the SLMC has conveniently ignored him. Some political parties which are doing political business are, in connivance with certain international forces, want to bring back tumult and communal disharmony to the country.

President Rajapaksa is committed to a prosperous and peaceful country for our future generation, he said.

His party already began campaigning for the re-election of the President, in coordination with supporters and members of local government bodies in all the three districts of the Eastern province.

They were also distributing their ‘pariovattam’ party paper among the local Muslim residents, he said.

They were optimistic that the President will poll twice the votes which he polled in the Eastern province at the last Presidential election in the light of the fact that a large number of senior members of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and supporters have joined hands with the NC in working for the re-election of President Rajapaksa, he said.

The East was de-merged from the North as an independent province, democracy was restored after freeing the province from LTTE terrorism, a provincial administration was established and an atmosphere conducive to brotherhood and harmony among the three communities has been brought about. The whole country has been freed from the three decade long terrorism during the four years of his office as Executive President, he said. These were their requests to him when they decided to ally with the UPFA and support him in the 2010 Presidential Polls, he said.