There is strong indication that the UPFA election manifesto released today at Henry Pedris Ground in Colombo is a development of the “Mahinda Rajapaksa Parliamentary Election Manifesto 2015” leaked in June.

 

The initial pages of the manifesto released today are almost identical to the pages in the leaked manifesto. The 12-point program mentioned on page 6 in the UPFA manifesto is identical to the program mentioned on page 3 of the leaked manifesto.

 

The pages in the leaked manifesto indicate that they were printed on May 28. The “Mahinda Rajapaksa faction” repeatedly denied the existence of this leaked manifesto, claiming that this was a fabrication of opposition parties.

 

However, the 12-point program is a clear indication that the “Mahinda Rajapaksa faction” had an election manifesto prepared at least two months ago. Rajapaksa officially announced his intention of contesting in the election only on July 1.