• Rajapaksas have been defeated in the country, but their ghosts are haunting the Parliament. It was these ghosts who elected Ranil as President

By Ajith Siriwardana 

Claiming that the election of Ranil Wickremesinghe was a reviving of the Rajapaksa camp, National People’s Power (NPP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said yesterday the corrupt Rajapaksa camp could completely be defeated only through an election.

He told a news conference that was why they stressed from the beginning that the Rajapaksa camp could not be defeated only by evicting President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.
“The public protest was mainly against the corrupt Rajapaksa camp. What happened in Parliament by electing Ranil Wickremesinghe as the President is reviving the Rajapaksa camp. We said we can evict Gotabaya Rajapaksa from presidency and Mahinda Rajapaksa from premiership. But, the Rajapaksas can appoint a new President and a Prime Minister at their will because a majority in Parliament is in their hand. That is why, we said an election should be held to defeat the Rajapaksa camp,” he said.

Dissanayake said Ranil Wickremesinghe is a creation of Basil Rajapaksa and said it was Basil Rajapaksa’s loyalists in Parliament, who enjoyed most after electing Ranil as the President.

“Rajapaksas have been defeated in the country, but their ghosts are haunting in Parliament. It was these ghosts who have elected Ranil as the President,” he said. He said there should be a strong movement and campaign to defeat the Rajapaksa camp, and that the NPP was ready to take up the challenge.