Mahinda has said he will contest the polls

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has informed his close aides that he will contest at the parliamentary elections, the Xinhua news agency quoted a senior Opposition member as saying.

Speaking on the grounds of anonymity, the senior parliamentarian said that Rajapaksa had already begun to conduct meetings on a weekly basis with the Opposition parliamentarians who were publicly supporting him and Rajapaksa’s future in politics was being discussed.

The former President was defeated in the Presidential Election in January by his onetime Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena and since then he has remained silent about his future political career.

In recent talks with President Maithripala Sirisena, the first since his defeat, Rajapaksa had requested Sirisena to make him the prime ministerial candidate of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) which was rejected by the President.

His supporters, including several Opposition Parliamentarians, have been holding mass public rallies in many parts of the country in support of the former leader and have been calling on Sirisena, as the leader of the SLFP, to appoint him as the prime ministerial candidate of the party.

Local media reports on Sunday said that Rajapaksa had already appointed a shadow cabinet which consists of about 15 former ministers in order to discuss the current political situation, the policies to be adopted and alternative policies. (Colombo Gazette)