Dayasiri won’t cross over to govt, says Attanayake

The UNP yesterday denied that its Kurunegala MP Dayasiri Jayasekera was planning to cross over to the government.UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake, MP, said he had met Jayasekera, who rejected the claim being made in some quarters to that effect as baseless.


The UNP would not name Chief Ministerial candidates for the Northern, North-Western and Central Provinces, but would appoint a team leader for every Province, Attanayake said.

Addressing a media conference in Colombo, UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said his party had already short listed candidates to be fielded in the three provinces.

"We have completed 75 per cent of the nomination lists as there had been signs of elections for the past few months," he said.

Attanayake said that they had appointed a special committee to handle the party’s propaganda during the election campaigns.

However, all parliamentarians and local government members in relevant districts had to work hard to make the UNP campaign successful, he said.

Answering a query, Attanayake said that Kurunegala District UNP Parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekera would not crossover to the government and it was only a rumour.

"I met MP Jayasekera and inquired about it, but he denied," Attanayake said.

"Currently, the government is in a mess on all fronts and no one would like to join a sinking ship," he said.

Attanayake said that the government did not have money to pay salaries of public servants and SLTB employees had not been paid since April.

Now, the government has started obtaining tax advances from taxpayers to recover the losses, he said.

The UNP General Secretary said that it was a joke to give aid to Uganda and the Maldives while Sri Lanka was facing an economic crisis.