COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, who heads the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), on Friday reversed his earlier stand and agreed to give a ticket to former president Mahinda Raja­paksa to fight the Aug 17 parliamentary elections.

“The President has now agreed to allow Rajapaksa to contest the election as an ordinary candidate of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance and not as its group leader or prime ministerial candidate,” Sirisena’s spoke­sman Rajitha Senaratne said.

The spokesman explained that the decision was a “compromise” between the group which wanted Rajapakasa to be nominated for premiership and the other which wanted Rajapaksa to be discarded altogether.

The decision by President Sirisena has angered the United National Party (UNP), a member of the ruling coalition. Sources in the party said the UNP was considering breaking its alliance with with Mr Sirisena as, according to them, he had not fulfilled his election promise to “destroy Rajapaksa”.

“The UNP put him (Sirisena) up as the joint opposition presidential candidate on the basis of an understanding that we work together for democracy and the betterment of the country, but he has made up with the corrupt Rajapaksa,” a party source said.

Rajapaksa supporters within the UPFA did not lose time to ‘congratulate’ Siris­ena over his ‘wise decision’.

Published in Dawn July 4th, 2015

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