Staunch supporter of Maithripala Sirisena and long time ally and confidante of former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Mangala Samaraweera has contradicted the latter’s claim that she referred to LTTE Supremo as ‘Mister’ only in jest, Colombo Telegraph reliably learns.

Kumaratunga who drew a lot of flak after referring to the slain LTTE leader as ‘Mister’ Prabhakaran because sections of the Maithripala camp felt this would alienate the Sinhala voter while providing unnecessary ammunition to the Mahinda Rajapaksa campaign, later offered that she used the word in jest. Her relatively soft stance on Prabhakaran invited wild cheers from the crowd. In her explanation, however, she stated that Prabhakaran was a killer. Her less than adulatory description of Prabhakaran was quite in contrast to what she said in Jaffna.

Mangala Samaraweera, meanwhile, has said that the respect shown to ‘the leader of the terrorist LTTE’ who caused her to lose an eye and sought to kill her, was a fine example of Kumaratunga’s adherence to the tenets of Buddhism and the best of Sinhala culture. He was speaking at a rally in Nilwella, Devinuwara on the 1st of January. At no point in his speech did he affirm the claim made by Kumaratunga that she said ‘mister’ in jest or in a sarcastic tone.