President on UNP parliamentarians who crossed over :

None joined Govt for financial gain

‘I will look after them’:

Chaminda Perera in Matara

President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday stressed that not a single UNP parliamentarian crossed over to the Government for financial gain. The President categorically denied the UNP allegation that the Government secured the majority in Parliament by paying the Opposition members who were willing to cross over.

Addressing a massive election rally at the Sanath Jayasuriya Stadium in Matara, President Rajapaksa emphasized that he would not have given nominations to any such member if they had demanded money to swell the Government’s majority in parliament.

The President said that some segments of the UPFA who brought him to power deviated from their original policies and impeded the Government’s mission to unite the country.

“I had no other option than inviting the Opposition members who truly love the country to continue the Governments endeavour to eradicate terrorism uninterrupted, he added.

He said the former UNP parliamentarians who crossed over to the Government at this crucial juncture gave indomitable strength to him in the exercise of uniting the country.” I will look after them with gratitude,” he said. Some leaders in the Matara district betrayed the SLFP led progressive government during the Press Bill in 1964 .

He said that his Government would leave no room for such betrayals again.

He added that the progressive people in the Matara district always played pivotal role in the development of the country.

The President said the country will ever remember the services rendered by the leaders in the Matara district of the calibre of Dr. S. A. Wickremesinghe and B.Y Tudawe to the proletariat and the down trodden.

Their dedication and commitment for the protection and promotion of the labour rights is immense, he added.

He said the people in the Matara district are broad minded and they have never sown the seeds of separatism or chauvinism.

President Rajapaksa said the people who prefer to eat rice voted for him. “We laid the foundation for the country’s development and Sri Lanka is the only country in the world where five main harbours are being developed simultaneously.”