Born SLFP, will die SLFP: Chandrika Kumaratunga

Chandrika Kumaratunga

Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga campaigning against her presidential successor and UPFA candidate in Kurunegala yesterday asserted her loyalty to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, and said it had become an unrecognisable entity under Mahinda Rajapaksa’s leadership.

 “I was born SLFP, I will die SLFP, I will never step on to a UNP stage,” the former President told a rally organised by the Purawesi Balaya (Citizens’ Force) in Kurunegala, where Mahinda Rajapaksa is contesting as a candidate in the 17 August parliamentary poll.  Kumaratunga said that it was Rajapaksa’s reentry into politics and attempt to restore his grip on power that was forcing her to engage in political campaigns to defeat him.

“I am retired, I should be silent at home. But to save the SLFP from destructive forces like Mahinda Rajapaksa, I must speak out,” she said.

 The former President told supporters at the civil society rally that the SLFP was no longer recognisable to her.

“This is not the SLFP my father built. Under Rajapaksa leadership, it has become a party I can’t recognise anymore,” she claimed.  “If we are to protect the SLFP, we must first seek to save the country,” Kumaratunga said.

 Kumaratunga issued a scathing criticism of Rajapaksa last week, indirectly urging her party supporters to vote against him and recalling his authoritarian rule in a four-page statement released through the media.  The UPFA has hit back against the former President, saying she was attempting to give the UNP an advantage at the forthcoming election with her anti-Rajapaksa remarks. (DB)