Minister of Megapolis and Western Development Patali Champika Ranawaka appealed to the SLFP and all democratic partners of the UPFA to join hands with the UNP led Democratic National Front (DNF) to defeat family bandyism in politics forever and create a more harmonious, democratic and prosperous country at the forthcoming Presidential Election.
“If an alliance is formed between the SLPP and SLFP, it will be a family based political organisation. If you are going to kneel down, you can get your membership or any other thing from the SLPP,” the Minister told the Sunday Observer yesterday.
Minister Ranawaka said the SLFP and its constituent parties, which have enough courage for a democratic society to be installed in the country, should join the new DNF which will soon get off the ground. We will have a Government with pragmatic policies but surely it is not neoliberalism, so called socialism or the populist right wing or left wing variations. We have the proper vision to take the country forward, he said.
He said at present all the constituent parties in the United National Front (UNF) Government have already reached consensus to form a broad political alliance to contest the upcoming Presidential Election. There is a Leadership Council as well as democratic ways of reaching consensus to resolve issues. Every party in the alliance will have its own say. At present the constitution of the alliance has been finalized after everybody has accepted it.
Asked whether there will be a need for a second counting in the Presidential Election if a Presidential Candidate from a small party obtains around 500,000 votes, Minister Ranawaka said that it will not happen here in Sri Lanka. It is there in the theory yet it will not happen practically.