While confirming that the presidential election will take place in January, UPFA Parliamentarian and Monitoring MP for the Ministry of External Affairs Sajin Vaas Gunawardena challenged JVP Leader to contest the forthcoming presidential election as a candidate.

It was widely speculated that the JVP would boycott the presidential election citing legal issues involving President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s third term presidency. However, Gunawardena, who recently found himself in the middle of a controversy over an alleged assault on Dr. Chris Nonis, challenged the JVP to contest the election and show that it still had the support of the people.  

He said it was certain that the presidential election would take place in January. However, the parliamentarian did not give any clue on the exact date of the election.

The JVP leader was highly critical of the UPFA Parliamentarian in the aftermath of the controversy involving Cr. Nonis, whosn Sri Lanka’s former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

Speaking at a function in Balapitiya the UPFA Parliamentarian said that no member of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party will cross over to the UNP, despite media reports.

“The SLFP is not like other political parties in the country. No senior member would betray the party and its interests. Today, the political parties of the opposition are afraid of elections. That is why the JVP is making various claims about ‘illegitimacy’ of the election,” Guanwardena added.

He also accused former Chief Justice Sarath N Silva of aligning himself with the JVP and leveling what he termed as baseless allegations against the government. The MP also added that although the former Chief Justice was a respectable person while in office, he insulted President Mahinda Rajapaksa at public meetings in an unacceptable manner.