Karu flags Rajapaksa double-speak

Wednesday, 26 March 2014 00:51 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

UNP Leadership Council Chairman Karu Jayasuriya has slammed the Rajapaksa administration for its hypocrisy in telling people to express their displeasure against the US resolution by voting for the Government at Saturday's provincial polls, while members of the ruling family continue to hold American citizenship. "The Rajapaksas are telling the people to think about Sri Lanka and send a message to the international community at the election this weekend. The best message President Mahinda Rajapaksa can send is to get his family members to renounce their citizenship in the US," Jayasuriya charged at his final pre-election press conference at Sirikotha yesterday. "The ruling family likes to portray themselves as chest-thumping patriots. But how many of the President's family members hold US citizenship?" he said. Launching a scathing attack on President Rajapaksa's double-speak, Jayasuriya recalled that it was MP Mahinda Rajapaksa who went before the international community in the late 1980s, begging the world to stop providing aid to Sri Lanka. "It was Mahinda Rajapaksa who first included Sri Lanka in the international agenda," the UNP LC Chairman said. Jayasuriya said that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party was in dire straits, having been usurped by migrant politicians who have won favour with the ruling regime. "Today there is no room for original SLFP members. Take a look at the UPFA platforms today. Where are the senior SLFPers?," he charged.