Politicians should practise what they preach -President

Rasika SOMARATHNA reporting from Badulla

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, addressing the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) final political rally in Badulla ahead of the Uva PC elections to be held on Saturday, asserted that politicians should practise what they preach and should always be prepared to honour people’s aspirations and needs.

Addressing a massive gathering which had thronged Badulla from all parts of the Province to witness an important landmark in the province in addition to the UPFA rally which was the opening of the new Uva Wellassa University, the President noted that politicians at all times should fulfill the peoples will.

“Politicians should serve the public alike both when in Government and in the Opposition. While in Opposition they should not go against every proposal the government puts forward, and should be prepared to engage in constructive criticism, depending on the viability of the proposal” he added.

The President also observed that the present Government under his leadership was never reluctant or afraid to go before the people at any time, as they had kept their promises and had been always sensitive to peoples needs by being close to them. “However, we have some politicians who think only about petty political gains instead of people’s needs and the country in general. These are the once who engage in slanderous propaganda campaigns abroad to discredit the Government and deny Sri Lanka necessary funding”, he added.

Due to these petty acts, the ultimate sufferer would be the people of this country. As peoples representatives they have no right to engage in such petty acts and should be considered traitors. It’s time for the masses to take a decision over where these selfish politicians belong’, he added. The President also identified equity in development as the task at hand and stressed that this cannot be achieved by one man.

Team work is the order of the day, politicians, organizations, people etc. should all contribute to take the country forward, he said.

He also asserted that this Government had identified that developing the village would pave way for overall development in the country. In this regard we are trying to take development to all corners irrespective whether it is the north, east, south or west, he added.

During his address, he also observed that in the same manner the term border villages was wiped out of the Sri Lank map the word difficult villages too would be taken away from the country’s vocabulary in the future.

A region which comprised many a village in the past, tagged as difficult is undergoing major changes today due to the present Government’s policy change, and is on a forward march to achieve sustainable development, he added.

Commenting on the upcoming polls the President said that he had no doubt that the people of the Uva Wellassa, would deliver the correct verdict at Saturday’s poll. A massive crowd participated at the rally.