The United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) would not allow anyone to topple any Provincial Council let alone the North Central Provincial Council, UPFA Secretary General and Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said.
He was speaking at a press conference at the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Ministry auditorium yesterday.
He further said that the UPFA or the SLFP does not need to change heads for money and President Maithripala Sirisena had instructed them to put a full stop to the concept of buying over members. “On the other hand we are so stable that we don’t need to buy members,” Minister Amaraweera added. “But there was a period where members were bought for money.”
He also refuted the statement that the Provincial Councils would not be dissolved until September 2019 and said they would be dissolved at the due date. Minister Amaraweera also asserted that nobody would be allowed to topple the provincial councils. “Chief Ministers of the Provincial Councils are appointed by way of a letter issued by me in my capacity as the Secretary General of UPFA”, he noted.
“What happened to those who crossed over at the North Central Provincial Council?,” questioned Minister Amaraweera. “Today they regret their decision. They had reached those decisions after being misled by certain persons. We home they would orrect themselves and rejoin us.”
Questioned by media personnel on statements by several UNP ministers, Minister Amaraweera said that their frustrations are over personal matters. He added that those members had not had any discussions with SLFP to join with them. However the SLFP is more democratic now. “It is no more a party that has to say “Yes Sir” or Yes “Madam”.
He also said that he was ready to accept any post in a cabinet reshuffle. “I am even ready to become a mere member of parliament. However no portfolio is permanent,” Minister Amaraweera observed. “But, I would work hard in any Ministry,” he added.