News

SLPP member, MP Susil Premajayantha charged that the National Peoples’ Movement (NPM) presidential candidate, Senanayake should be held accountable for the April Easter Sunday attacks.

He made this comment in response to a question posed on the impact Senanayake’s candidacy have on the vote base at the elections.

“Senanayake as Army Commander, cannot rid himself off the responsibility of the loss of lives that occurred due to the devastating Easter Bombings,” Premajayantha said.

Meanwhile, SLPP presidential candidate, Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s spokesman Dullas Alahapperuma explained that during the last election, 17 presidential candidates contested in addition to Maithripala Sirisena and Mahinda Rajapaksa and that the 17 candidates together were only able to secure a total 137,000 votes.

“Mushrooming candidates is a common occurrence during Presidential elections. People know who to vote for. In the coming weeks, people will know which forces control these so called presidential candidates,” he added.

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a proposal to submit a Vote on Account for the first four months of 2020.

The Vote on Account as opposed to a full budget will be presented as a Presidential election will take place on 16th November 2019.

The Vote on Account will cover state expenditure from 01.01.2020 to 30.04.2020 after which a full budget will be presented by the new government appointed following the presidential election.

However, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) pesidential candidate Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is yet to confirm his attendance at the “Presidential Election 2019—Public Platform” scheduled on 5 October at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium.

The event will host the top presidential candidates on a single platform to answer five pre-selected questions on a wide range of issues, from national security to the economy and women’s rights and representation.

Rajapaksa’s spokesman, MP Dullas Alahapperuma said that Rajapaksa was avoiding the media based on legal advice.

He said that several cases have been filed against Rajapaksa locally and his lawyers have advised him to stay away from the media as a result.

Alahapperuma further noted that Rajapaksa is a media friendly person but is being forced to avoid the media as a result of the court cases.

The MP made these observations during a news briefing held in Colombo yesterday.

United National Front (UNF) presidential candidate Minister Sajith Premadasa says he is prepared to forego his salary and benefits if elected as President in order to address the increasing wealth disparity in the country.

Premadasa made this observation at a press conference held at the official residence of Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera yesterday.

“More than 45% of the population lives under a daily wage of Rs. 900. These people earn less than 30,000 a month. The Census and Statistics Department says a minimum of Rs.  55,000 is needed for food and non food expenses to run a family of four,” Premadasa observed.

He further noted that 55% of the national income was distributed among the richest 20% while only 5% of the national Income was distributed among the poorest 20%.

“I will contribute my own salary and benefits for this cause once elected as President,” Premadasa said, adding that his government would introduce target driven measures to eliminate such inequality and improve living standards of the people.

“Usually the poor and the oppressed see Sajith as the saviour. It will bring about a profound change in politics, society and in particular the voter base. That means Sajith will get an easy win in the race between "Sajith and Gota."

“When speaking about the oppressed, it does not only affect the Sinhalese. It also includes the people of the North and the Tea Estates. This is because those people are oppressed as well. For all of them, Sajith is an inspirational leader. Gota does not have this effect on them," he said.

“Gota has a different voter base. The advantage that Sajith has is his ability to attract voters from other voter bases apart from the UNP voter base," Ivan noted.

The President was represented by Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Ariyasinghe at the UN meeting.

The General Debate of the 74th session of the UNGA began on 24 September and ended yesterday (Monday).

A source at the Presidential Secretariat said the President’s Office had made all preparations for President Sirisena’s, visit but was informed at the last minute that he will not be participating.

Although the reason for the withdrawal was not known, the source believed that the President’s last minute withdrawal may have been triggered by the current political situation in the country.

If the President participated in the sessions he might be in New York at a time when the country’s political situation is at a very decisive stage.

If the President participated in the UNGA, it would have been his last representation of Sri Lanka at the UNGA prior to ending his term as President.

Rajapaksa has sought approval from the Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar to travel to Singapore from October 9-12.

The Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar has imposed an overseas travel ban on Rajapaksa over an ongoing case.

Meanwhile, a writ application filed before the Court of Appeal by two civil society activists are to be taken for consideration today and tomorrow.

Rajapaksa’s maiden election rally is to be held on the 9th in Anuradhapura, which is the same day he has requested to travel overseas.

They decided to call off the fast when several pledges including a lifetime pension scheme equal to the salary were promised by Rajapaksa to be fulfilled under a future government.

Interestingly, Rajapaksa’s visit to the venue of the fast came soon after United National Party (UNP) presidential candidate, Minister Sajith Premadasa visited the protesting war heroes and pledged that he will stand for their grievances and discuss the matter at the Cabinet meeting.

The war heroes agreed and welcomed Premadasa’s initiative.

Soon afterwards, Rajapaksa loyalist MP Arundika Fernando arrived at the venue and said Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa would speak on their behalf and would visit them in a few days. Nevertheless, seeing the impact Premadasa’s visit had on the war heroes, the MP informed the situation to his party leaders and Opposition Leader Rajapaksa made his way to the protesters a few minutes later.

Rajapaksa immediately pledged to address their grievances under a future government and gave water to the protesters and called for an end to the fast.

However, Premadasa said at an event yesterday evening that the Rajapaksas were agitated by his visit and decided to call an end to the fast that was initiated by them since addressing the issues Premadasa would have otherwise received the merit for addressing the protesters’ issues.

“All that only went to show who was really behind the protests,” Premadasa said.