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NFF
strongman Weerawansa cautions JVP
By Rathindra Kuruwita
National Freedom Front (NFF) strongman Wimal
Weerawansa said that wrong strategies had led to the Janatha
Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) suffering a massive defeat at the
Eastern Provincial Council elections.
He added that in the recent times the party had acted like
the “junior team” of United National Party (UNP.)
“In the weeks leading to the Eastern Provincial Council
elections, the party positioned itself as the junior team
of the UNP. JVP leaders like Anura Kumara Dissanayake started
repeating what the UNP leaders were saying for a long time
and the people in the East got the wrong impression,”
he said. “That’s why the JVP got such a poor result,”
he added. Weerawansa added that the tried and tested method
of placing the party as an alternative to both main political
parties should have been followed. He however, claimed that
the party leadership had acted as it was acting according
to a UNP agenda.
“The
JVP followed a strategy that is parallel to the one of UNP.
We should have acted as the patriotic alternative to the political
mainstream. The JVP’s statements and slogans were very
similar to the UNP ones,” he said.
Wimal Weerawansa added that JVP claims that widespread rigging
had led to the decrease in the votes, were false. “The
party contested the 2006 elections under similar circumstances
but received more than double the number of votes” he
said.
“It is true that there were election violations but this
is quiet a common occurrence,” he said. “The party
has always competed under pressure and intimidation by others
but until now the JVP votes had increased. But this setback
is only an indication of the future,” Weerawansa warned.
The NFF MP said that in the 2006 elections the JVP received
more than 11 000 votes in the Ampara district but the party
failed to collect 10 000 votes from the entire Eastern province.
Weerawansa added that if the party continued to follow this
policy it would be relegated to the political sidelines.
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