Maduluwawe Sobhitha thera, who is still undergoing treatments at a private hospital in Malabe, has lashed out at UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa’s attempts to sabotage moves to form a common opposition.
Sobhitha Thera had expressed displeasure and disappointment over Premadasa’s behavior with a senior UNP Politician who visited him at the hospital. The senior Buddhist monk had said that Premadasa was the one who stood in the way of the main opposition party, preventing the UNP from arriving at a final decision with regard to the presidential candidate.
Sobhitha Thera is of the view that the UNP’s delay in naming its presidential candidate has weaken the efforts of the other political parties of the opposition to form a common alliance. However, he had assured that he would continue to play an active role in the presidential campaign of the common opposition, despite pressure exerted by the government.
This criticism came against a backdrop where UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa had taken part in the protest rally organized by the common opposition last week at the insistence of UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe, The UNP leader had requested Premadasa to participate in the meeting and play an active role in the campaign against Executive Presidency so that he would be in a position to promote Wickremesinghe’s candidature.
The ulterior motive of Wickremesinghe's move is to use Premadasa as a pressure factor to influence the common opposition to field Wickremesinghe as the presidential candidate. Wickremesinghe, who earlier gave his consent to support a common candidate of the opposition, is in the process of consolidating his position at the moment as the main opposition party’s presidential candidate.
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