{"id":167122,"date":"2016-09-03T00:21:22","date_gmt":"2016-09-02T18:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=167122"},"modified":"2016-09-03T11:42:52","modified_gmt":"2016-09-03T06:12:52","slug":"rajapaksa-faction-decides-to-boycott-65th-slfp-convention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rajapaksa-faction-decides-to-boycott-65th-slfp-convention\/","title":{"rendered":"Rajapaksa Faction Decides To Boycott 65th SLFP Convention"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rajapaksa Faction of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP<\/span><\/a>) has announced that it will boycott the 65th convention of the SLFP which will be held in Kurunegala on Sunday under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena.<\/p>\n

\"Mahinda\"<\/a>Announcing the group\u2019s decision, Parliamentarian Dullas Alahapperuma said that the decision was taken not because the group had any animosity towards President Sirisena, but this was the group\u2019s attempt to try and redirect the SLFP to the correct path. \u201cThis is a decision that we took simply because we have a political issue, there is no other issue,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a press conference in Battaramulla, Alahapperuma said that during meetings in several electorates including Kesbewa, Homagama, Peliyagoda, Minuwangoda and Weligama a unanimous decision was reached that the MPs with Rajapaksa should boycott the SLFP celebrations in Kurunegala.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were three reasons to reach this decision, one is that the SLFP is slowly turning into a UNP branch, the other is that there is an organized conspiracy to discredit and attack former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is the 5th leader of the SLFP and the third reason is that with our decision we are trying to redirect the SLFP back to the correct path,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want the SLFP to be turned into a political branch of the UNP,\u201d Alahapperuma added.<\/p>\n

Rajapaksa also decided to duck out of the convention, claiming that he was invited for the Asia Pacific Parliamentarians\u2019 Union convention<\/span><\/a> and therefore he will be in Malaysia during the event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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