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| Monday, 11 October 2004 |
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Politics | |
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| JHU discussing important issues - Ven. Ellawala Thera by Chamikara Weerasinghe The Leader of Jathika Hela Urumaya, Ven. Ellawala Medhananda Thera yesterday while admitting there had been "some anxiety" among its party members following its Supreme Sangha Council Member Ven.Kolonnawe Sumangala Thera's decision to step down from his post as a Member of Parliament, said that it seemed that some media establishments was using this as an opportunity to attack Bhikkhus of the JHU . Asked to comment on the present situation the Ven. Medhananda Thera told the Daily News that the situation was mainly due to a few important decisions that the party's leadership was discussing at the highest level. Asked what these decisions would be , the Thera said they would declare them once they have been ratified by the Supreme Sangha Council. Meanwhile, sources close to the JHU leadership confessed that the unrest in the party followed a decision by the JHU leadership to do away with its lay members presently holding powerful posts in the party's Central committee. Asked if this was true, Ven. Medhananda Thera said that this was something that the Jathika Hela Urumaya had openly declared when it entered into politics to contest the last Parliamentary election with the help of the former Sihala Urumaya. "I still maintain, that Sihala Urumaya's role was to be regarded comparable to the use of a ferry to be used to cross the river, and not to be carried along after the river has been crossed, but to be laid aside," he said. Contacted by the Daily News, the JHU's former Media Secretary Udaya Gammanpila said he was not authorised to comment on the issue of party members making their decisions to leave the party. Referring to former JHU member Thilak Karunaratne's decision to join the UNP, Gammanpila said that it might have been a sudden decision by him. |
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