JHU lauds UPFA polls victory

Chamikara Weerasinghe

COLOMBO: The Leader of Jathika Hela Urumaya Ven. Ellawala Medhananda Thera yesterday lauded the victory of the United People's Freedom Alliance at the Local Polls saying that it was a people's victory.

"People have supported the candidates after considering the policy on which they plan to develop their local areas," said Ven. Medhananda Thera.

The JHU was no exception for it had dedicated itself to support the policies of Mahinda Chinthana whether it wins elections or not , he said.

Asked why the election results showed a huge drop in the JHU vote base the Ven.Medhananda said, " It was quite easy to look at things from the point of view of numbers, but by the same token it was quite clear from the outcome of the election that people have been lethargic in casting their votes."

"Besides, the JHU vote base is not concentrated in villages. It is a different vote base which comprise the educated segments in urban and suburban areas," he explained.

"We are yet to expand our politics to rural areas. However we achieved what we wanted in our election campaign that is to make the public aware about our political agenda," he said.

"The JHU does not engage in politics to ascend to seats of power as many politicians are used to doing nowadays." "However we have got one important candidate elected from Maharagama which is a great achievement considering that there have been a considerable number of people who abstained from voting at this election," he added.