Former Colombo District UNP Parliamentarian Rosy Senanayake, who lost her seat at the recently held Parliamentary election, is now projecting herself as the Mayoral Candidate for Colombo.

As a result, a keen contest has surfaced between present Mayor A.J.M. Muzammil and Senanayake for the Mayoral candidacy of Colombo at the forthcoming Local Government election likely to take pace in March.

Upon her defeat at the Parliamentary election, Senanayake was appointed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as his Deputy Chief of Staff. Due to her close affiliation with the party authorities including Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, Senanayake is presently the hot favourite for the Mayoral Candidate's position, party sources told Asian Mirror.

However, Muzammil is strongly backed by International Trade and Development Strategies Minister Malik Samarawickrama, who is also the Chairman of the party. Muzammil, over the past nine months, came under severe criticism from various sections of the society, including media, over his failure to continue with city beatification projects started by former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.