Nepotism served UNP leader - Weerawansa
Fonseka reiterates his allegation:
Chaminda Perera
NFF Leader Wimal Weerawansa said Opposition Leader Ranil
Wickremesinghe who has pledged to end nepotism of politicians is the
first person who secured undue advantage by entering politics due to his
close relationship with the then UNP Leader President JR Jayewardene.
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Opposition campign has no policy basis - President
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President
Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday said the Opposition’s election
campaign is based on nothing other than hypocrisy and hatred.
He stressed that no Opposition member is speaking about their
economic policies, development policy or what they will do for
the betterment of the people but levelling baseless allegations
against the Government.
The President was speaking at the UPFA’s election rally in the
Gampaha district at the Minuwangoda Urban Council ground
yesterday. Over 200,000 supporters representing all electorates
in the district participated in this rally which was organized
by Western Province Chief Minister Prasanna Ranatunga.
President Rajapaksa said the Government succeeded in
accomplishing more than 95 percent of what he promised. He said
the Opposition is engaged in a dirty game of slinging mud
against him and the Government as they have nothing to say. He
added the Opposition members are doing what Goebbels’ did as
Hitler’s Propaganda Officer.
The President added that the troops did not have basic amenities
when he took over the reigns of Presidency and he provided all
facilities to them and directed them to crush terrorism and
bring people of all communities under one flag.
The President said the Government tore the Ceasefire Agreement
which betrayed the country’s sovereignity and territorial
integrity to terrorists. “We focused equal attention to the
country’s development too,” he said.
He said the Government averted massive power shortage by
initiating coal and thermal power plants and the country will
never experience power interruptions any more. The President
said the Government effectively cushioned the adverse effects of
global financial downturn and resultant food shortage.
He said a stretch of over 500 km of roads belonging to the Road
Development Authority in the Gampaha District has been carpeted.
He said he pioneered in providing drinking water facilities to
the people living in five electorates in the district.
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He was speaking at an election rally at the Minuwangoda Urban Council
ground yesterday.
He said Wickremesinghe as a political novice was appointed Deputy
Foreign Minister by the then President Jayewardene, his uncle, while a
number of senior UNPers were without portfolios.
Weerawansa said former President JR Jayewardene appointed his
relatives to key positions of the Government. His brother H.W.
Jayewardene was made a director while his son Ravi Jayewardene was
appointed Head of his Security Division. The NFF Leader added that
Jayewardene’s relatives such as Nihal Weeratunga and Lt Gen Tissa
Weeratunga also received top Government positions during the Jayewardene
Government.
Weerawansa said the Opposition Leader was given a Cabinet portfolio
in a few years after entering politics.
He said the relatives of President Jayewardene brought the country
into destruction while President Rajapaksa’s relatives like Gotabhaya
Rajapaksa endeavoured to save the country from terrorism.
General Sarath Fonseka has repeated what he has told the Sunday
Leader at an election rally in Ratnapura on December 17 though he said
he was misquoted by the paper, said Wimal Weerawansa.
He said former Chief of Defence Staff in connivance with the
Opposition has undertaken a contract against the Motherland.
He said the former CDS betrayed the Defence Secretary, Security
Forces and the country at large at the beginning of his election
campaign. He said General Fonseka has forgotten that Opposition Leader
Ranil Wickremesinghe jointly with Parliamentarians Mano Ganeshan and
Rauff Hakeem made a great effort to stop the humanitarian operation to
free Tamils from clutches of terrorism.
He further said Mano Ganeshan were in connivance with the LTTE
terrorists while Parliamentarian Rauff Hakeem betrayed the rights of the
Muslims in the Eastern Province to achieve his narrow political
objectives.
He added these elements together with the JVP attempted to overthrow
the Government at the 2008 budget and the JVP launched various Trade
Union actions and student protests with a hidden agenda when the troops
were engaged in heavy fighting against the terrorists. |
