SLPP will rule the country during the next ten years- Minister Prasanna ranatunga

By Pushpakumara Mallawaarachchi - Meerigama  

The Minister of Industrial Exports and Investment Promotions, Tourism and Aviation, Prasanna Ranatunga said that whatever agreements were formed between party leaders, The people only value the agreements made with them and what requires to be done is to identify the expectations of the people and move forward as an Alliance to contest at the upcoming General Elections, under the symbol of the lotus bud.   

He made this remark during a SLPP meeting held at SLPP office at Thihariya, in Attanagalla.   

He also said that 27 MP have come into an agreement to contest the upcoming General Election under the symbol of the chair. Despite any agreements of party leaders, what is more important is the agreement with the people of the country. People have already entered into an agreement with us to win the lotus bud. It was confirmed at the previous Presidential Election. Therefore we need to contest the upcoming election only under the symbol of lotus bud, he added.   
Our party is SLPP and we dedicated ourselves to refine the party. That task was no bed of roses. Those bigwigs who boast today said that we would be punished and expelled from the party if we built one. Those who are fond of Mahinda Rajapaksa committed to build this party. Therefore we will not allow anybody to eliminate this party or the symbol of the party. If not for the party, Gotabaya Rajapaksa would not have become the president.   
We brought Mahinda Rajapaksa into General Election in 2015. However, on several requests, we had to contest under the symbol of the betel leave. I opposed that day too. I asked them not to trust the former President Maithripala. What he did by contesting at the Presidential Election while being the Secretary of the party was a stab in the back. I asked them not to join but to contest by ourselves. A group came that day and told Mahinda Rajapaksa to take the leadership and no problem would occur. Yet when the election was ongoing, they said that Mahinda will not be the PM even if he won. They eliminated our chance to win by removing Secretaries of the party.   

Therefore, I have no faith in the former President. Neither then, nor now . I will not trust him either. SLFP says that according to the agreement during the Presidential Election, the General Election should be contested under the symbol of chair. There is no use making agreements between party leaders. The agreement should be made with the people of the country. Our agreement was that we would contest the upcoming General Election under lotus bud. We are not ready to change that.   

A new political culture has been created in the country following the propaganda of Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Youth have begun to think about the country. They have come forward for the country which is a great movement. A new uprising  has been created in the country.   

We did not elect this government to hand it over in five years. We will contest the upcoming General Election under the lotus bud and will create a government with a two thirds of power. A government run by SLPP will rule the country during the next ten years and that cannot be changed.   

Former Provincial councillors Upul Mahendra Rajapaksa, Sandhya Siriwardana and the Chairman of the Attanagalla Pradeshiya Sabha Priyantha Pushpakumara also spoke at the meeting.