DNA leader Sarath Fonseka was welcome to join the UNP led Opposition, but if he thought it was a joke, then it could do without him, UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said.
DNA leader Sarath Fonseka was welcome to join the UNP led Opposition, but if he thought it was a joke, then it could do without him, UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said.
Attanayake told The Island that no one was asking the former army commander to join the UNP, but he and his party could support the Opposition campaign to oust the Rajapaksa government. He said: "We never told General Fonseka to dissolve the DNA and become a UNP member. The invitation was to team up with the common opposition front". Anyone was welcome to join the UNP, but there was an accepted procedure which applied to one and all and should not be looked at as an insult, regardless of one’s standing in society, Attanayake said.
Asked about Fonseka’s recent comment that it was a joke to join the UNP, Attanayake said if that was his opinion of the single largest political party in the country, it reflected badly on him.
The UNP was the alternative government responsible for the unprecedented development process it set in motion in 1977. The SLFP, including President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who launched death fasts against the open market policies that were introduced, have not only embraced them but also were enjoying their benefits, Attanayake said, noting that the capitalist economy and the provincial council system once branded unpatriotic by the SLFP led opposition had now become the survival ground of the Rajapaksa government, which also included firebrand left leaders.
(Island)