• Decides to field its own candidate   
• Only 11 members out of 79 stood by President at Central Committee
• Mahindananda who spoke for President booed by participants  
• Prominent SLPP MPs such as Prasanna Ranatunga , Ramesh Pathirana, Premitha Bandara to continue to support RW  

By Kelum Bandara  

In what appeared to be a split decision , Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna ( SLPP) yesterday decided not to back President Ranil Wickremesinghe at the upcoming presidential election .  

Instead ,the party decided to field its own candidate. The party took this decision at its Central Committee meeting.  

At the commemoration the meeting , General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam proposed that the party should field a candidate without backing the President. However, it was opposed by MPs such as Prasanna Ranatunga ,Mahindananda Aluthgamage and Kanchana Wijesekera who stressed the need to stand by the President.  

Among the other SLPP MPs who back the President are Premitha Bandara Tennakoon, Janaka Bandara Tennakoon and Dr. Ramesh Pathirana. Mr. Premitha Bandara Tennakoon, in fact , posted on X later saying that he would continue to support the President.  When Mr. Aluthgamage spoke , there was booing behind . It prompted Mr. Aluthgamage to respond angrily . He was , however, confronted by MP Johnston Fernando. A verbal clash ensued between the two afterwards . Later , the resolution was put to a vote at the Central Committee which is a body of 82 members . As many 79 were present at the meeting and only 11 members raised their hands against the party fielding a candidate.  Accordingly, the party resolved that it should field a candidate.   

Party’s founder Basil Rajapaksa also spoke at the event.  

It will later decide who is to be picked as the candidate. It is widely believed that the party will consider business tycoon as its presidential candidate.   

The SLPP took this decision despite the President reaching out to the party hierarchy for support at the election .  

After the SLPP announced its decision , the President took to X and said , “  

I want to thank the MPs who’ve been with me on this journey. To those who stood by me from the start, your support made the first steps we took to recovery possible. You believed in me and my plan when the country was in crisis, with people struggling for fuel, medicine, and essentials. Your commitment kept us going when the challenges seemed insurmountable. To the MPs who joined midway, you saw the progress and chose to be part of the change. Thank you. To those now joining us, welcome. Your support shows the positive direction we’re heading. You understand the importance of putting aside party politics to unite as one. Together, we can achieve even more,”