United National Party has launched a new publicity campaign targeting several young politicians of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) through propaganda especially on social media, political sources said. 

“At this stage, popular young politicians of the government namely Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa, Minister Dilan Perera and North Western Province Chief Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera are being targeted by this sinister propaganda campaign. Mangala Samaraweera, Head of the Media and Communications Unit of the UNP, had reportedly advised his team to carry out this campaign in a manner that would tarnish the image of these ruling party politicians,” a Parliamentarian who wished to remain anonymous said. 

 He also also added that the campaign has been started parallel to the launch of Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s official Twitter account while adding that the campaign would especially focus on young politicians of the government who pose a threat to the United National Party in the long run.

“The opposition is under the assumption that this smear campaign would give them an edge over the government in the future,” he also added.

The opposition, according to him, has deployed a team of six members who work around the clock to carry out this campaign on websites and social media. He said they were operating from ‘Sirikotha’, the headquarters of the United National Party.

He asserted that the campaign has been designed to reach out to the urban youth who are familiar with website content and social media.