Group of SJB members will join UNP after polls: Akila

• ‘We will select and accept only those who would be useful to the country’

By Yohan Perera   

A group of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) candidates will join the UNP after the conclusion of the general elections, UNP General Secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said yesterday.   

Mr. Kariyawasam who was responding to journalists at a media conference said a selected few from SJB will join the UNP after the elections. “We will select and accept only those who would be useful to the country,” Mr. Kariyawasam said.   
“More than 15 who initially handed over nominations from SJB were engaged in a dialogue with us to come back if the nominations were cancelled but they were sad as the nominations were not cancelled. The UNP giants left the party in the past but they had to rejoin by paying the membership fees,” he added.   

Asked whether the UNP could manage to win sufficient number of seats by fielding new comers, Mr. Kariyawasam said the UNP was able to secure a five-sixth majority in 1977 by fielding its B team. “ The UNP managed to win a 5/6 majority in 1977 by fielding its B team. More than 90 UNP organizers left when late President J. R. Jayewardene suspended Rukman Senanayake from the party but still the UNP managed to win the 1977 general elections by a massive majority,” he recalled.