MR trying to settle ‘Pohottuwa’s internal conflicts by talking about Presidency - Duminda

Former President Mahinda Rajapksa is trying to settle internal conflicts within the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (‘Pohottuwa’) party claiming that he too has a chance to contest the Presidential Election again, Disaster Management Minister Duminda Dissanayake yesterday alleged.

Addressing a media conference at the Mahaweli Centre yesterday, Minister Dissanayake said that according to the provisions of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution,former Presidents Mahinda and Chandrika cannot contest any Presidential election since no President can hold the Executive Presidency for more than two terms.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is very well aware that he has no chance to be the Executive President of the country legally.

The Minister was responding to a question by a journalist regarding the statement made by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, claiming that the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna will seek the Supreme Court’s advice, whether under the 19th Constitutional Amendment, a person who had previously held the post of President twice, could contest at a Presidential election again.

Minister Dissanayake said that the conflict between senior politicians of the Pohottuwa party arose after proposing the names of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Chamal Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa for the Presidential candidate of the party by various persons.

“Senior politicians Kumara Welgama and Vasudeva Nanayakkara openly opposed some of these proposals while MP Dinesh Gunawardena remained silent since nobody proposed him as the Presidential candidate. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa used this announcement as a trick to unite all these members,” Minister Dissanayake added.

Responding to a question by a journalist who asked about the involvement of the 16 Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) members who recently vacated their posts in the government in the reform drive of the SLFP, Minister Dissanayake said that some MPs like Dayasiri Jayasekara are actively involved in the reform process. But, some of them are not actively participating in the process. So as a party we will take a decision on them. 

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