President Sirisena appointed UPFA Chairman

Monday, 16 March 2015 02:39 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Jayashika Padmasiri President Maithripala Sirisena was appointed as the Chairman of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) unanimously on Saturday. This decision was taken during the UPFA Central Committee meeting which was held at the Sri Lanka Foundation in Colombo with the participation of the fellow minority parties that are registered under the UPFA.

According to reports, during this meeting former Minister of Lands and Land Development Janaka Bandara Tennakoon was appointed as the UPFA National Organiser and former Minister of Disaster Management Mahinda Amaraweera was appointed as Deputy Secretary of the UPFA while former Ministers SusilPremajayantha is to continue as the UPFA General Secretary and AnuraPriyadarshanaYapa as the Treasurer. UPFA Parliamentarian Shantha Bandara told the Daily FT that President Maithripala Sirisena had invited all the other parties which are contesting under the UPFA ticket to register their parties under the UPFA. Commenting on whether UPFA stalwarts and minority party leaders contesting under the UPFA (who are also supporters of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa) such as Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila were present at the meeting, Bandara explained that since their parties had not been registered under the UPFA, they did not attend this meeting. “Only leaders of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Dinesh Gunawardena of the MahajanaEksathPeramuna, leaders of the MahajanaPakshaya, Ferial Ashraff’s party and Podi Appuhami’sparty were present during Saturday’s meeting as they are the only parties registered under the UPFA. The other parties, though they contest under the UPFA ticket, have not been registered under the UPFA. Therefore, President Sirisena also extended an invitation on Saturday to all of these political parties contesting under the UPFA ticket to register their parties under the UPFA,” Bandara said.

Correction In the Daily FT edition of 13 March, the newspaper inadvertently reported that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) would be holding its all island convention today in the article titled ‘SLFP All Island Convention on Monday’. However, it later came to our notice that today’s SLFP meeting will not be the all island convention, but a meeting for all island SLFP electorate organisers. The meeting will be held today at the Sri Lanka Foundation (SLF) at 5 p.m. in the evening. We regret the error.