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Several SLPP MPs meet Ranil and assure support at polls

30 Jul, 2024

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By Easwaran Rutnam

Several MPs from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) met President Ranil Wickremesinghe and extended support to him at the upcoming election.

The meeting came a day after the SLPP had decided to dump President Ranil Wickremesinghe and put forward its own candidate at the Presidential polls.

Meanwhile, a total of 92 MPs, mostly from the SLPP, pledged their support to President Ranil Wickremesinghe at the election in September.

The 92 MPs met the President in the presence of Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and assured their support to Wickremesinghe.

SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam had told reporters, Monday, that the SLPP decided, by majority, to nominate its own candidate at the election in September.

However, SLPP MP and Cabinet Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said that the SLPP politburo which met on Monday did not constitute the majority of the SLPP.

He said that a majority of the MPs represented in Parliament met the President, Tuesday, and assured him their support.

The Minister said that while most SLPP MPs want to back the incumbent President there are a handful who are against it.

According to reports, Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees of Parliament Ajith Rajapakse, Minister Kanchana Wijesekera, State Ministers Dilum Amunugama, Anupa Pasqual, Geeta Kumarasinghe, Members of Parliament Mahindananda Aluthgamage, S.B. Dissanayake, Premnath C. Dolawatte, and a number of others participated in the meeting with the President.

Meanwhile, SLPP Parliamentarian S.M. Chandrasena said that a number of SLPP members in Anuradhapura have also decided to support President Ranil Wickremesinghe.?(Colombo Gazette)

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