Responds to a request by ministers to contest for the presidency

Responding to a request made by some government ministers that he should contest for the presidential election, President Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday said he is ready to work with everyone who made this request.   

“Let’s get together and decide what we are going to do at the Presidential elections, and at the general elections. I am willing to work with all of you. Let’s all work together,” he told the politicians gathered at the rally held in Matara last evening.   

“I had to pilot the ship Titanic which was stranded in the middle of the sea. I managed to bring it to a port. We now have to repair the ship. People have to decide whether they are going to hand over the ship to those who ran away when it ran into trouble in 2022,” he said.   

“I would like to tell the opposition parties as well to support us to bring about more stability to the nation. I have already spoken to the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (MP) Harsha de Silva who is the chairman of the Public Finance Committee and told him to support the debt restructuring agreements which we got into with various nations. I told him I will reveal some of the details on the agreements in Parliament next week. These agreements will certainly help us to come to an agreement with the international sovereign bond holders. We believe we can get into an agreement with bond holders next week. We can discuss all these agreements in the House,” he said.   

Minister Kanchana Wijesekera who organized the rally said everyone in the SLPP and others are ready to back the incumbent President at the next Presidential elections. “You only have to announce your candidature as we are ready to support you,” the Minister said.   

“Some say that a fraction of the SLPP will support Mr. Wickremesinghe at the next Presidential election. However I would like to state that SLPP as a whole will support the President. SLPP leaders fully understand the reality no matter what anyone says,” he said   

Minister Harin Fernando said Mr. Wickremesinghe will contest for the presidency as he is the one who is most suited for the post.