JVP slams President on defections

• Calls President a ‘Bothal Paththara Karaya’ for recruiting “political rejects”
• Claims President misused State resources by issuing a statement on a party matter through Presidential Secretariat

By Skandha Gunasekara

A disgruntled Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) yesterday lashed out at President Maithripala Sirisena for recruiting a number of their former party members who they termed as rejects to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). 

JVP MP Vijitha Herath, addressing a media briefing held at the JVP headquarters, charged that the so called defectors of the JVP, that were recently recruited to the SLFP, were in fact rejects of the party and were not party members anymore. He also referred to the President as a ‘bothal paththara karaya’ or a collector of [political] refuse. 

“Look at the individuals the President is so proud of recruiting to the SLFP. They are rejects of the JVP who had either left the party or who the party has no interest in associating with. The President is so politically bankrupt that he stooped to the level of enlisting cheap, useless politicians, just like a bothal paththara karaya, to the SLFP,” he said. 

 He then criticised the President for using the Presidential Secretariat to issue a statement on the SLFP’s recruitment of the 30 or so former JVPers. 

“The President who championed good governance and clean politics has misused public resources. He had the Presidential Secretariat issue a statement with the Presidential Letterhead regarding a matter concerning his political party. This is completely unethical and a gross misuse of a public institute. The correct move would have been to issue a statement through the SLFP head office,” he said adding that the JVP would lodge a complaint with the Elections Commission over the matter and that the Presidential Secretariat would be held responsible for the blunder.

He went on to say that every single nomination of the JVP had been accepted while other parties struggled with the nomination lists. 

“Nominations of the 311 electorates the JVP is contesting were accepted without a problem. However, we noted that other parties, particularly the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna and the SLFP had nominated several shady figures with criminal backgrounds,” he charged.