The group of candidates contesting the Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte Municipal Council from the United Republican Front for the provincial government election began their election campaign under the leadership of party leader Patali Champika Ranawaka at the residence of mayoral candidate Prasanna Ravindra Lal.
Speaking to the media on that occasion, Patali Champika Ranawaka said:
Question: Are you prepared to participate in the next election and form a government? Why are you running around so much when there is a normal system where those who have power in the government win?
Answer: No, the politics of the country have changed a lot now. We are trying to transform the administrative capital of Sri Lanka, the Kotte Sri Jayewardenepura Municipal Council, into a place where the right things are done and build a real administrative capital. Our aim is to appoint a mayor and a team that can take forward the program we have taken (Ministry of Municipalities).
Question: Are there no thugs in your party? When you look at social media, there are people who do not fit in with the village. Are there any in it?
Answer: There are a number of councilors who represented our old municipal council. Our Prasanna, Mrs. Priyadarshani, our Rajika Kodithuwakku and a group who represented the previous municipal council. There are also important professional people. There are social leaders, but those thugs, drug dealers, and ice dealers are not on our list.
Question: Will this journey be possible? Does that mean it will be possible to give a contest? Given the current situation, the other strong parties that have gone out are also contesting.
Answer: There is no such thing as a nation of strong parties in Sri Lanka. In the last general election, all parties except Compass got less than ten percent of the votes. That is why we are not a nation of strong parties or a nation of strong candidates. Even Compass; the JVP came to power by getting sixteen votes out of one vote. So they are now trying to advance the party. We are looking to get the votes of our people for a program and a program that will empower the people instead of the party. We have something big to say in that. We have come here by doing work that goes beyond words. We are a group of people who worked to solve the problem of waste management in this country, especially in urban areas. Similarly, to solve the flood problem in the Kelani River and these low-lying areas. We have come as a group that has worked especially in the Kotte Municipal Council area.
Similarly, we are a group that has worked to solve the housing problems of the poor people, to solve the housing problem of the middle class. Similarly, if we had the ability, by 2025, that light railway would be passing through our Sri Jayewardenepura capital. That is the result of going on a wave and bringing a war hero to build the country. So now we have gone to build a rich country and so far we have not put even a single brick in development for six months.
Question: Now when you look at Parliament, you can see the lack of a strong opposition, right? Now, people who talk a little have to go inside. Now, recently, that means I don’t know, right or wrong, we don’t know. Especially Chamara Sampath Dassanayake is facing legal proceedings here and there. Isn’t the lack of a strong opposition a big influence?
Answer: That’s right. We are not against punishing anyone other than Chamara Sampath Dassanayake for those incidents. But they should not be political hunts. The problem is that those who cannot take action against the thieves who looted the country’s wealth worth 370 crores through the e-visa scam in this country, and a big process is being taken regarding providing school bags to school children. Even though everyone is equal before the law, the smugglers are getting away with it.
Also, under this government, 323 containers were released after affixing red labels. Until today, our Customs Department in particular was unable to do so. We could not tell whether those containers contained drugs? Weapons? Contraband. It was the most powerful fraud that has ever taken place in this country.
Not only that. A group of people who were rejected by the tender committee and the committee were given an electricity project to a company owned by a swindler who is close to them.
Similarly, it must be said that this government is now mostly saying that we will stop corruption in this village too. We have stopped corruption in the country. We have saved. In fact, I must say that these MPs, if we think about it, receive a salary of three hundred thousand rupees with all allowances. The salaries of the 159 people in this compass were saved. They maintained all that money from the party and returned all that money to the government. Even if they had given it for the entire five years, the country lost three times that amount, the remaining amount, on February 1st, the Ceylon Electricity Board lost three times. Three times. The Ceylon Electricity Board alone has lost more than eight billion rupees.
Accordingly, those false savings are useless. This alone has completely deprived the Ceylon Electricity Board and the people of this country. Therefore, if billions have been wasted on a power grid that cannot be controlled even by a monkey, that is a heinous crime.
Similarly, due to the recent collapse of the electricity board by cutting off the solar power, hydropower, and wind power that it has been receiving, the Ceylon Electricity Board has lost a huge amount of money, about 14 billion rupees, which is a lot more than in January, in February and March.
So, while losing billions of rupees to the country through waste and inefficiency in this way. They are being imposed on the people as taxes, as food taxes, as medicine taxes, or as oil taxes, as electricity taxes. It must be said that it is now a joke to say that we are simple, we do not take salaries, we do not buy vehicles. In the first place, those huge windows should have been closed, these beehives will not go away even if they are closed. Today, wealth is leaking out on a large scale through the huge windows. I have mentioned these only two examples.
We hope to make a detailed statement on this in the future. I again request the Public Utilities Commission to appoint a commission to replace the current report that you have given about the power outages across the country. We are stating the truth here. Similarly, we are telling this government that this happened on November 24th, when the Minister was informed by the Ceylon Electricity Board control room that such an incident would occur. Therefore, this is like the Easter attack. If this Minister and this President fail to maintain the electricity supply in the country despite being informed in advance, they should take responsibility for this loss. They should take responsibility for this matter that was done to this state property. If Chamara Sampath is going to jail for state property, he should go to jail ten thousand times as much for this. We hope that the relevant institutions will take action for that.
