Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is likely to lose his position as a Patron of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party if the ongoing investigations prove his involvement in the attempted election night coup, a group supporting President Maithripala Sirisena says.

The SLFP Central Committee met last evening with President Maithripala Sirisena at the chair and the party sources told Asian Mirror that the President was tightening his grip on the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.

If the ongoing investigations into the attempted coup bring forth a substantial outcome, the former President will be accused by the party of conspiring against a democratically elected SLFP President.

“Such a development, “the SLFP sources said,” will cost him all the positions he holds in the party and his membership.”

Rajapaksa’s removal from his present position in the party will also expand the authority of former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga over the SLFP. Presently,  both  Kumaratunga and Rajapaksa are ‘patrons’ of the SLFP,  sharing same powers and authority.

However, it was in the grapevine that the former President was exploring the possibility of forming a new political party with his loyalists to contest the forthcoming parliamentary election. It is becoming clear that Rajapaksa will find it hard to survive in the SLFP until the next general election.

(Hasitha Ayeshmantha)