“Work for me or leave,” says President to government MPs | Print edition

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President Ranil Wickremesinghe has decided to exercise government power and call on ministers and government officials to resign if they do not actively participate in his election campaign and remain mere spectators.

This came after others who supported the president’s victory in the upcoming presidential election asked him to do so.

The President has said that at this crucial moment there is no point in having ministers and MPs on his side if they are not working for his victory, and has asked those nominally present to go elsewhere if they wish. To make the message clear, he has removed Ports.
& Aviation Minister Premalal Jayasekera, Energy Minister Indika Anuruddha, Agriculture Minister Mohan Priyadarshana de Silva and Highways Minister Siripala Gamlath, who have all pledged their support to other candidates.

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Debate debacle: Only one candidate and moderator

An attempt to bring together the leading candidates in the 2024 presidential election on one stage for a debate ended in a non-event yesterday when only one of the candidates showed up. The event was organized by the March 12 Movement and took place at the BMICH. The alleged “debate” was broadcast live by all major television networks and also aired live on social media.

For the first round of debates, which are scheduled to last three days, the organizers invited six of the leading candidates: President Ranil Wickremesinghe, opposition leader and Samagi Jana Balawegaya candidate Sajith Premadasa, National People’s Power candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna candidate Namal Rajapaksa and independent candidates P. Ariyanenthiran and Dilith Jayaweera.

President Wickremesinghe had previously informed the organisers in writing that he would not be able to attend. Mr Dissanayake of the NPP had also informed the organisers that he would not be able to attend.

The debate was scheduled to take place from 3pm to 5pm. Six general questions were asked of the four candidates who were scheduled to take part. It started very late and viewers who tuned in soon realised why. Only Mr Jayaweera was on stage. Although the audience at the BMICH and viewers at home were informed that Mr Rajapaksa was also present, he never took the stage. Mr Ariyanenthiran had meanwhile left for Jaffna. There was no information about what had happened to Mr Premadasa.

At the end, all that was left for moderator Saliya Pieris, PC, to do was ask Mr Jayaweera the six questions he wanted to ask all candidates who were to join.

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Customs goes beyond its habits and crosses the trillion rupee mark

According to official figures, the Customs Department earned revenue of one trillion rupees in the first eight months of the year.

They said this puts Customs on track to meet its annual target of Rs 1.5 trillion and there is a possibility of even exceeding that amount.

It was the first time that such a goal had been achieved, they said, adding that the positive result was due to the fact that outsiders did not interfere in the work of customs officials, allowing them to collect the necessary taxes and duties and thus contribute to the state treasury.

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NPP leader attacks Wigneswaran and seeks Tamil votes

While the votes from the south appear to be evenly distributed among the three leading candidates, the presidential candidates in the north are conducting aggressive campaigns for the Tamil vote.

National People Power leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who was in Jaffna this week, criticised Tamil nationalist politicians for allowing themselves to be “bought” by southern candidates’ false promises on the 13th Amendment, referring to the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi’s decision last Sunday to support the candidature of Sajith Premadasa, which Mr Dissanayake described as a “blank cheque”.

At a press conference on Friday during the election campaign, he criticized parliamentarian CV Wigneswaran.
who had previously stated that the NPP lacked appropriate and implementable measures to resolve the economic crisis facing the country.

The former Northern Province chief minister even went a step further, pointing out that if the NPP were elected to office, it might again turn to China for financial support, leading to further
financial disaster.

Responding to Mr Wigneswaran, the NPP chairman said: “Even the Tamils ​​are not listening to Wigneswaran anymore. Should that worry me?”

The NPP chairman pointed out that in the current geopolitical context, a country cannot exist without the support of other states. “States support other states, not individuals. I will work closely with India on issues relevant to India, while we do the same with China.”

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ITN awaits Premadasa’s response

The Independent Television Network (ITN) has invited opposition leader and SJB presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa for a live discussion ahead of the upcoming elections.

ITN Chairman Sudharshan Gunawardena has written to Mr Premadasa informing him that three contestants, namely Dilith Jayaweera, Nuwan Bopage and Anura Kumara Dissanayake, have already appeared in the show titled “Kedapatha‘ and requested Mr Premadasa to do so to discuss his manifesto.

ITN officials said they were awaiting his response. President Ranil Wickremesinghe will appear on the programme on September 17.

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Wimal’s talk show video is released, but reaches a larger audience

Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa appeared on a popular television programme this week to speak out about the interference of a foreign ambassador based in Colombo in Sri Lanka’s political affairs, including the presidential election campaign.

Mr Weerawansa asked why the ambassador, whose term of office ended several months ago, was still in the country, suspecting that this was to interfere in the presidential election and its aftermath.

He spoke at length about the Ambassador’s role in the 2022 Aragalaya elections and her attempts to forge alliances between various political parties in the country. The MP also touched on the recent visit of Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Kumar Doval to Colombo and the various political leaders he met there.

The program was broadcast on Monday and the next morning the entire video was removed from YouTube and other electronic platforms of the television channel. The MP wrote on his Facebook page that the video was removed due to pressure from various parties. This, in turn, led to a high demand for the video and since then many copies of it have been distributed through various platforms. After all, the best way to reach a larger readership or viewership is to ban it.

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Marians apologize to NPP supporters in disturbing trend

Four members of the popular music group ‘Marians’ recently received a rude shock when a video in which they sang a few lines of a popular Sinhala song but changed the lyrics to give it a political twist did not go down well with some supporters of the National Movement.
The power of the people.

After the video appeared on social media platforms, the band members were heavily criticized and threatened with harm. They had to make a new video in which they formally apologized for hurting some people’s feelings.

While it’s not clear what prompted the band members to apologize when they did nothing wrong, the underlying message is disturbing because if people are no longer given the freedom to make fun of politics or political parties, the number of people lining up for an apology will be quite large.

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TV station relies on clever presidential slogan

With the presidential election just around the corner, electronics retailers and tutors are resorting to clever marketing strategies to promote themselves and attract people.

One such company spotted on social media even used the layout of President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s election manifesto and adopted a snippet of the slogan “Puluwan Sri Lanka” to promote its Full HD Smart TV, incorporating the proposed election symbol of a television into its advertising campaign.

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State Minister allegedly stormed police station in Badulla

State Minister Chamara Sampath Dassanayake is accused of storming the Badulla police station and forcing the police to release 34 people who were arrested for allegedly violating the electoral law during the election campaign for President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The group of 27 men and seven women were picked up near Badulla’s main bus stop wearing T-shirts with the president’s campaign slogan.

It is alleged that the Minister of State then stormed into the police station and angrily demanded that the arrested persons be released. A video of the incident, which shows the Minister of State verbally abusing the officers at the police station, has since been released.

However, police insisted that the group was arrested and later released on the advice of election officials. According to police, election officials had told the group that they were not allowed to campaign for a candidate in such a large group, that only five people were allowed to campaign at a time, and that they were not allowed to do so wearing such T-shirts.

Police said the state minister’s actions had nothing to do with the group’s release, which was done on the advice of election officials after the group received a warning.