I could not take it anymore; SJB is heading on a wrong path

  Thalatha Athukorala resigns as MP  

• Many senior members of the SJB expressed dissatisfaction with the party’s current direction
• She has not yet decided whom to support as she is committed to continuing her political career
• Sajith is determined to become the leader at any cost

By JAMILA HUSAIN  

Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Parliamentarian Thalatha Athukorala who shockingly resigned from her parliamentary seat just weeks ahead of the Presidential election said she made this decision as she saw no clear road ahead with the SJB and said she could not bear to see the party heading in such an ad hoc direction.  

Just hours after her emotional speech announcing her resignation, Athukorala told the Daily Mirror that she had not made this decision under any pressure or after having discussions with anyone, but instead made this decision only after consulting her husband and friends and to achieve peace of mind.  

Athukorala alleged that many seniors in the SJB were unhappy at the direction the party was heading towards as well as the decisions that were made in the party, and called on both Ranil Wickremesinghe and Sajith Premadasa to put aside their differences for the sake of the nation and work to save the motherland.  

“Even back then when the UNP was splitting, I was really down but when everybody was leaving, I was the first person to go to Ranil to request him to make Sajith the Deputy Leader of the UNP,” Athukorala said.   

“Even when that failed I stood by Sajith and went with him. I had no other option other than walking out with him but even back then I never wanted to see the UNP break,” Athukorala said.  

Following the split of the UNP, Athukorala said she went to visit Wickremesinghe at his home in 2020 after he had failed to win a seat in the Parliamentary Election. She said she proposed to him to rejoin both the UNP and SJB following which some discussions then took place at her house between Sajith and Ranil thereafter.  

But all these discussions failed because Sajith was adamant over certain issues, Athukorala alleged, adding that she never understood why he could never accept the olive branch extended by Wickremesinghe.  

“Thereafter I stayed with Sajith in the SJB because I was elected to Parliament under that ticket but since 2021 I was not very happy with the way the SJB was heading and I was not very much in agreement with the decisions being taken by the party hierarchy,” she said.  

“But then it came to a point where I could not bear it up anymore. So I thought this was the best time for me to leave,” she added.  

When asked if she was going to join Ranil Wickremesinghe or support him ahead of the September 21 Presidential Election, Athukorala said she had not made any such decision as yet but remained adamant that her career in politics would continue.  

In Parliament, Athukorala went even as far as to say that she wondered if Sajith was trying to act the second episode of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa era. “He is trying to become the leader at any cost. He however does not think if it is the right time or the right environment to become the leader,” Athukorala said.  

SJB silent during Thalatha’s speech

When MP Thalatha Athukorala was making her speech in Parliament, announcing her resignation as a Parliamentarian, there was stark silence by the SJB members who were present and even after she left the House, no SJB member got up and responded to her allegations or speech.