Women contributed immensely towards SLFP’s success at every election: President

Tuesday, 11 November 2014 01:48 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Women contributed immensely towards the SLFP’s success at every election, said President Mahinda Rajapaksa, saluting them for their support at all times at a meeting organised by the Women’s division of the Rata Nagana Nil Rella. He added that the party had not had such a large female membership in the history of the SLFP as it has at present. The women leaders of the SLFP who gathered at Temple Trees on 8 November represented 61 electorates, highlighting the strength of the SLFP membership at Grama Niladhari level throughout the country. Winning the forthcoming election is no big task for the United People’s Freedom Alliance which has won the 28 previous elections, said the President.

BJP leader says Sri Lanka to extradite the five fishermen on death row to India Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) leader Dr. Subramanian Swamy says Sri Lanka agreed to transfer the five Indian fishermen ,who were sentenced to death by a Sri Lankan court for drug smuggling, to India. According to the BJP leader during the discussions Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had with the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa Sunday over the phone, Sri Lanka has agreed to transfer all five Indian fishermen to an Indian jail. “Namo and Rajapaksa spoke on the phone yesterday & agreed to process papers & transfer 5 fishermen convicted to Indian jail. I am vindicated!” Swamy said in a Twitter message Monday. Sri Lanka’s Colombo High Court on October 30th sentenced the five fishermen from Tamil Nadu - P Emerson, P Augustus, R Wilson, K Prasath, and J Lanklet - to death on charges of smuggling 995 grams of heroin. They were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy for heroin trafficking in 2011. The Tamil Nadu government said in a release Saturday that India’s High Commissioner in Sri Lanka through lawyers was preparing to file an appeal in the Sri Lankan Supreme Court on Monday challenging the death sentences.

“You have been our support and strength in the past although the SLFP as a political party did not support me. The office door of the SLFP was closed to me and the office did not come forward to print my propaganda material. Despite this shabby treatment and lethargic attitude of the party, I was not disheartened and I never thought of leaving the party. I bore everything for I had my confidence in you and as members of the SLFP you extended your support wholeheartedly,” the President told the women leaders. He added: “True, there are times you get disheartened and disgusted when you work with dedication and commitment. But what is important is to work without leaving the party and that is the secret of my success.” President Rajapaksa told the SLFP women leaders that as a person who has tasted both victory and defeat in elections, he had not left room for anyone to take revenge and that has strengthened the SLFP as a political party today. “When the Government wins, the Opposition has a habit of describing it as a defeat using the media. They behave as if they have won. But we as political party with integrity could not come to that level,” the President said. While the Government having won 28 elections in a row is set to win its 29th, the Opposition is yet searching for a candidate, the President further stated.