The pledge given by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to fully implement the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was a ploy to hoodwink the people, JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva said today.

He told a news conference that President Ranil Wickremesinghe was trying to divert the people's attention from burning issues and mounting protests against them.

"It is Ranil Wickremesinghe who initiated this dialogue on 13A again. No one was talking about it. People across the country were talking about rising cost of living and economic crisis. We ask people not to get caught to these racial ploys," he said.

He said President Ranil Wickremesinghe is continuously obstructing the Local Government election process not due to financial constraints but due to lack of votes from the people. Silva said the latest move to obstruct the election was to ban state officials from obtaining goods and services on credit basis.

"This order was given to prevent the election commission from carrying out the election activities on credit basis. This is an anti-democratic move. Ranil Wickremesinghe as the President has no right to intervene in this manner to obstruct the election," he said.

He said the election process was almost completed by now and that if the election was stopped it would be a waste of money. (Ajith Siriwardana)