Tamil Progressive Alliance joins Sajith-led SJB

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa together with Tamil Progressive Front (TPA) leaders including MPs Mano Ganesan, Velusami Radhakrishnan, Aravind Kumar, and Palany Thigambaram, at a media conference where they announced their decision to join the Samagi Jana Balawegaya alliance led by Premadasa - Pic by Pradeep Pathirana 

• SJB stakeholders to sign MoU on Monday at official launch of alliance 
• “Sri Lanka First” is core strategy, leadership positions irrelevant: Sajith
• Say SJB confident in forming a Government, pledges to work with President
• Sajith wants to make estate workers’ daily wage Rs. 1,500

The Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) yesterday joined the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) alliance led by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa. 

The announcement was made at a joint press conference held at Parliament, where TPA leader MP Mano Ganesan, deputy leaders MPs Palany Thigambaram and Velusami Radhakrishnan fronted the press with SJB Leader Sajith Premadasa and General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara. 

“Today with the TPA joining us, the SJB moves forward, gathering progressive groups under our banner,” said Premadasa, adding that the alliance will sign a MOU with all stakeholders at its launch on 2 March. “Our aim is to create a country where equality and justice reigns with no corruption. We want to ensure that the fruits of progress are shared by all Sri Lankans,” he stated. 

The TPA believes that national security, national reconciliation, and national economy are interlinked, opined Ganesan.  “You can’t have national security without national reconciliation, and you can’t have a national economy which drives the country forward without reconciliation or security. This is why we stand with the SJB,” he said, pointing out that alliance represented some 1.5 million Tamil-speaking estate sector employees. 

The current Government does not have the moral grounds to use the national security narrative for the upcoming General Elections, charged MP Ganesan. “How can they claim it when they have the former President, who ignored intelligence reports and failed to prevent the attack, as Chairman in their alliance?” he questioned.  

Responding to a question, MP Madduma Bandara argued that any future Government the SJB may form after the General Elections will not have a problem working with a President from another party. “There won’t be a problem, under the 19th Amendment, the powers of the President were reduced and transferred to Parliament, where the Prime Minister will have more of a say. Therefore there won’t be a problem for governance, once we form a Government,” he explained. 

“I believe that we should not expect our future Government to work in the old ways, we are planning a revolution, a change in the way politics and governance is done in this country, since the SJB has Sri Lanka first as its goal, and as we do not run on any personal agendas like in the past, I think we can work with any President in the future,” Premadasa said.

Responding to a question about the Cabinet paper on increasing the daily wage of estate workers to Rs. 1000, Premadasa said he was closely observing the Government’s moves, but was unsatisfied that the agreed amount was a sufficient raise. “I aim to increase it to Rs. 1,500 per day, the hardships the estate sector employees face and the contribution they make to the national economy deserve good remuneration,” he added.