Central Provincial Councilor Azath Salley said that his challenge of bringing 5000 people to the rally at Nugegoda was misinterpreted in media.

After massive crowds had attended the rally, Salley claimed that he had said Wimal Weerawansa could not bring 5000 people. Salley said that there were not even 5000 Wimal Weerawansa supporters in the rally.

Meanwhile he also claimed that the rally was ‘racist’ rally. Although it had initially been claimed that the rally was called to ask former president Mahinda Rajapaksa to return to politics, it later adopted racist slogans. He said that people voted against racism in the presidential election.

However, Udaya Gammanpila, one of the organizers of the rally referred to Salley’s challenge when he spoke and asked the people to make way for Salley to come up to the stage with the letter of resignation from politics and to count the people from the stage.