Ramanayake hails MS for MR nomination

Thursday, 9 July 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Says move gives UNP ideal platform to campaign against corruption of former regime

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Former Deputy Minister Ranjan Ramanayake addressing the media

By Himal Kotelawala

Former UNP MP and Social Services Deputy Minister Ranjan Ramanayake yesterday hailed President Maithripala Sirisena’s decision to nominate former President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the UPFA ticket.

Addressing the media at the UNP’s headquarters at Sirikotha yesterday, Ramanayake said that the President’s decision to permit Rajapaksa to contest had automatically ensured a strong anti-corruption platform for his party in the run-up to the polls.

“We are thankful to President Sirisena for giving us an opportunity to run with a rallying cry against corruption, nepotism, murder and ethanol-peddling, or we might’ve had to criticise the very same President we elected into power on 8 January at the upcoming election rallies,” he said.

Commenting on relations between President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Ramanayake said that both parties worked together and made sacrifices to save the country from the previous regime.

“President Sirisena was the only one with a backbone to stand up to the organised corruption of the previous administration. He saved us, he saved the country and 6.2 million people said no to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Just as Maithripala Sirisena saved us, the UNP’s Ranil Wickremesinghe saved him. Both of them had to make sacrifices in this regard. They cannot ever be divided,” he reiterated.

Ramanayake said that he believed that Rajapaksa’s nomination could be a plot hatched by President Sirisena, Premier Wickremesinghe and former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.

“It is my belief that this is all part of a plan put together by the current leadership of the country. If this plan is carried out, it will be a blessing for the UNP, as we will have a heap of slogans to use against corrupt, drug and ethanol-trafficking individuals. For that, we are thankful to the President,” he said.

Ramanyake also revealed that, following discussions with the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) and the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board, some 25 parliamentarians have been identified as being directly linked to these unsavoury acts and will be exposed before nominations are handed over.