Mahinda didn’t attempt coup, says GL

Tuesday, 13 January 2015 01:49 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party yesterday denied that there had been an attempted coup on election night by ousted President Mahinda Rajapaksa after the new Government accused him of trying to stay in power through illegal means. Addressing a media briefing at the SLFP’s Darley Road Headquarters yesterday, former External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris insisted that he had been present at Temple Trees on election night.

“There was no attempt to cling to power through any coup,” Peiris insisted. Peiris said that even the US Government had recognised that there had been a peaceful transition of power after President Rajapaksa’s defeat at the election. President Maithripala Sirisena’s Government would launch an investigation into the alleged coup d’etat that was planned at Temple Trees while the results were being released, UNP MP Mangala Samaraweera told journalists at a press briefingon Sunday. Samaraweera, who has succeeded Peiris as External Affairs Minister said a bloodless transition had been achieved on 9 January, because the police and military chiefs had refused to comply with orders from top officials in the regime.