President able to garner the support of many minority parties

 

The 66th SLFP Party Convention which brought many of the minority parties on to its platform is hopeful that they would support its candidate at a future Presidential election.

UPFA General Secretary and Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Mahinda Amaraweera addressing the weekly SLFP media briefing today challenged any other majority party to be able to do the same,

“We saw Sumanthiran from the TNA with Doughlas Devananda of EPDP, then we had the hill country parties of Digambaram and Mano Ganesan. We also had Rauff Hakeem of the SLMC and representatives of the ACMC”, said Minister Amaraweera.

He went on to add, “It is only President Sirisena who has been able to do this. These parties have said that the Convention has renewed their trust in the President”.

If we are to win an election, we cannot do so without the support of these parties, explained Minister Amaraweera further as the SLFP under President Sirisena has tried hard to win the confidence of the minorities which it lost during the previous regime.

The 66th Convention held on 3 September, the Minister said was a harbinger of the support the President and SLFP enjoyed in the country and said it was more successful than any of the previous Conventions they have had.

Members of the Central Committee and MPs had met President Sirisena on Wednesday evening to discuss the future actions of the party in the aftermath of the Convention, said Amaraweera. Those gathered had decided to target party supporters at the grassroots level,

“At the village level, we have noticed that we are enjoying much support. Despite whatever the Joint Opposition says, the average SLFPer at the grassroots is with the Party and President. Thus we decided to concentrate our efforts there”, he said.

Commenting on reports that certain SLFPers were set to leave the government, the Minister said he was unaware of such a move and that the Joint Opposition has been playing the same tune for some time now with no discernible results to show.   

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