Ranil says he is under death threat

Dharma Sri Abeyratne

United National Party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said that he has been subjected to death threats owing to the unlawful conduct of certain media institutions.

Wickremesinghe was addressing the media at the Opposition Leader's office in Colombo yesterday on the unruly scenes that took place at the UNP party headquarters 'Sirikotha' on Monday after he was re-elected as party leader by the UNP Working Committee.

Wickremesinghe said that severe damage was caused to the Sirikotha building though no estimate had been reached yet. In addition, vehicles of both Opposition Leader and General Secretary were also severely damaged. According to a rough estimate, damages amounting to Rs 500,000 were caused to his vehicle while Rs 1 million damage to the General Secretary's vehicle. 'Even the shrine room was damaged,' he said.

The UNP leader further added that, it was only an intra party election with only 94 persons participating. Therefore, the party had asked supporters not to call over at Sirikotha unnecessarily. Disregarding this request a large number of supporters came to Sirikotha shouting slogans against him," he said.

Wickremesinghe displayed a large stone at the media conference. He said that, Sirikotha has been constructed at a historic place where an army of Ariya Chakrawarthi defeated the army of Alakeshwara.

"No one will be allowed to destroy the party or inhibit its forward march. No one will be allowed to pull the leg of the party. With the assistance of each and every party member, the party will be placed on a rapid path of advancement. Every person who went against the party is being identified through photographs," he added.

Answering a question raised by a journalist, Wickremesinghe said that disciplinary action will definitely be taken against all those who took part in the riot and damaged Sirikotha. Without discipline there would not be any forward march, he said. He noted that the police were inquiring into the incident.

"There is a ground rule in the UNP to respect the party headquarters. As the saying goes a member of the party has to worship the party office after worshipping the Temple of the Tooth Relic," the Opposition Leader noted.