10 September 2024 07:45 am Views - 85
By JAMILA HUSAIN
National People’s Power (NPP) presidential candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake scotched speculation that he is having a secret deal with President Ranil Wickremesinghe who is contesting the election as an independent candidate.
Making his remarks to Daily Mirror, Dissanayake said if he was in any secret deal with Wickremesinghe as alleged by several politicians, to form a government with him or work alongside him, then the two would not be contesting against each other as Presidential candidates.
“In fact, I see a deal between Wickremesinghe and Sajith Premadasa where both have united to defeat me. Wickremesinghe keeps addressing me as ‘his friend’. We are not friends, but we are competitors in a political battle,” Dissanayake said.
The NPP Leader further said that he had not met Wickremesinghe in recent times and remained focused on his campaign to win the Presidential Election. He said both the Wickremesinghe and SJB camps were spreading rumours that the President was in a secret deal with him only to gain more votes for themselves.
Dissanayake further said that he was also not ready to work with the SLPPers who were now with Wickremesinghe, as some of these MPs were rejected by the people with allegations of corruption. “How can I work with such people?” Dissanayake said.
A verbal spat has broken out between Wickremesinghe and Dissanayake in recent times where Wickremesinghe posed questions at Dissanayake. He asked how Dissanayake could boost exports by doing away with Free Trade Agreements as announced in the NPP manifesto.
“In his manifesto, my friend Anura Kumara Dissanayake has pledged to do away with the FTA. At the same time, he pledged to boost exports. How can exports be promoted sans FTAs. He did not answer my question. I later learnt that he was unwell. I wish him a speedy recovery,” Wickremesinghe said.
SJB presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa, in his election rallies, added fuel to the fire, saying that Wickremesinghe and Dissanayake were operating covertly to stand in the way of him.