SB alleges political assassination

By Uditha Jayasinghe
More cracks appeared in the main Opposition yesterday as UNP National Organiser S.B Dissanayake accused top officials close to Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe of trying to politically assassinate him.

Speaking at a media briefing yesterday, he charged that Wickremesinghe together with other top office holders of the party were conspiring to destroy him politically, as they had done in the past with popular front-liners.

Launching an emotional tirade against his enemies, Dissanayake insisted that these were rich businessmen who engaged in much corruption during the former UNP regime. He maintained that following the recent Provincial Council elections, they had banded together with a newspaper that was partial to the party, and had launched a smear campaign against him.
“These people are insinuating that I have got together with UNP Party Chairman Rukman Senanayake, and a group of other party members, to oust Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya and UNP MP Sajith Premadasa. I would like to categorically state right now that there is absolutely no truth whatsoever to this statement. These accusations are simply being made to discredit me and undermine the unity in our party,” he said.

Vehemently denying any possibility of a split within the party, Dissanayake pledged to never leave the UNP, and to dedicate himself to re-establishing it as a powerful party within the country. He noted that even though the party has taken a drubbing in recent elections, it can be resurrected with the right people at the helm.

“These people are pretending to be close to Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. But the truth is that they are carrying out the plans of the government, and assisting President Rajapaksa to win elections. Because of these people targetting popular leaders within the party, the UNP is under even greater threat. The only reason we were able to get at least this many votes during the last elections, was because of me. But I have been repeatedly neglected by the party,” he charged.

Dissanayake refused to divulge the discussions made at a recent party meeting on reforms. He however admitted that Wickremesinghe’s leadership had come under discussion and that he had also participated by giving his ideas.
He revealed that he had notified Wickremesinghe of the press conference along with a request to respond to his concerns through media reports, and had refrained from mentioning the offenders by name to honour a request made by the Leader.