Rajapaksa dumps Sirisena’s party tag as polls loom

COLOMBO: Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday ended his five-decadelong association with President Maithripala Sirisena’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and joined the newly-formed Sri Lanka People’s Party (SLPP).

The move by the strongman, who was appointed prime minister by Sirisena, signalled that he would contest the snap polls, to be held on January 5, under his own party banner and not that of SLFP.

Rajapaksa obtained the membership of the SLPP, launched by his supporters, on Sunday.

The SLPP was formed last year by Rajapaksa’s supporters to create a platform for the former president’ s re-entry into politics.

In February’s local council elections, the party won twothird of the total 340 seats.

The 72-year-old strongman, who ruled Sri Lanka for a decade from 2005, was unexpectedly defeated by his deputy, Sirisena, in the presidential election held in January 2015 with the support from Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP).

However, the power-sharing arrangement between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe became increasingly tenuous on several policy matters.

On October 26, Sirisena ousted Wickremesinghe and replaced him with Rajapaksa, after three and a half years of an estranged relationship with him.

SIRISENA’S ORDERS ARE ILLEGAL, SAYS SPEAKER

Sri Lanka’s speaker on Sunday accused Sirisena of usurping parliament and urged public servants to defy his “illegal orders”.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya said Sirisena’s actions over the past two weeks in sacking Wickremesinghe and dissolving parliament undermined the freedoms of the people.

“I call upon all public servants to refuse to execute any illegal orders they may receive, no matter from whom. We must all act with patriotism and independence to safeguard the future of our country,” he said.