COLOMBO — Former presidents Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (CBK) and Maithripala Sirisena will express their support for incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe in the coming days, National People’s Power (NPP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake claimed.

Speaking at a rally in Kalutara on Sunday (28), Dissanayake said establishment politicians who are nervous about the NPP’s rising popularity will set aside their perceived differences to defeat what he called the “progressive people’s movement” that will propel the NPP to victory at the polls.

Dissanayake, who leads both the NPP and the Marxist-Leninist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) that effectively controls the NPP, said the leftist alliance has become the focal point of political debates and discussions on television.

“Everyone on TV is talking about one thing: the NPP. They are the ones who announce what we plan to do after we come to power. They announce what we discussed with the IMF,” he said, referring to a recent round of discussions a group of International Monetary Fund (IMF) representatives held with NPP members.

“Why is this? They’re afraid,” he added.

Dissanayake said the NPP is a political movement created against the most antagonistic forces the Sri Lankan public has had to face, a group that includes fraudsters, protectors of criminals, and a ring of underworld and business characters linked to this corrupt system.

“If we lose in politics, we continue to engage in politics the next day. If they lose, they lose everything. So what do they do? They will fight to the very end to defeat this exercise,” Dissanayake said.

The opposition parliamentarian said that any factions that are able to work together will team up and get on the same stage to support President Wickremesinghe at the presidential polls scheduled for this year.

“Did you ever expect to see an alliance between Ranil, Chandrika and Maithripala? That alliance too is coming in a few days,” he said.

In a tacit acknowledgement that could pass for an unintended compliment that Wickremesinghe has been on the receiving end of unfair criticism at times, Dissanayake said: “Various groups that levelled both correct criticism and falsehoods against Ranil will get on the same stage. Why? Because this rising progressive people’s movement must be stopped.”

Those who cannot bear to get on the same stage will do so from a second platform, the JVP leader claimed.

“So what must be done? Do we give up our politics? Are we going to cower under the whimpering of the enemy they intend to sound like threats? No.

“This transformation can be done and must be done this year, and we are ready,” he said.

-economynext.com