• Weerawansa said Ranil Wickremesinghe was able to secure 134 votes in Parliament due to the insecurity of parliamentarians created as a result of the struggle

By Ajith Siriwardana

What the Aragalaya (struggle) has finally done was to send home President Gotabaya  Rajapaksa, who was elected through an election and elect Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was defeated in the election, as the President, National Freedom Front ( NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa said yesterday.

He told a news conference that as a result of the struggle on May 9, Ranil Wickremesinghe became the Prime Minister and became Acting President due to the June 9 struggle and is now the President.
“This is only what the Aragalaya has achieved now.  That is why we did not endorse the slogan that the President should go home. I reiterated that such a move will only allow someone worse than that to come to the office of the President. But, these youth strugglers were not wise enough to realise that,” he said.

Weerawansa said Ranil Wickremesinghe was able to secure 134 votes in Parliament due to the insecurity of parliamentarians created as a result of the struggle.

He said the MPs thought it was Ranil Wickremesinghe who could suppress the struggle and secure their lives than Dullas Alahapperuma who was more democratic.

“That is why 134 MPs voted for him. As a result of the struggle which sans principle, strategy or purpose, the President who did not shoot at the strugglers when they stormed into the President’s House has been sent home and created the situation to elect a President who will suppress them,” he said.