(COLOMBO) – A Sri Lankan Left-leaning political party on Wednesday warned foreigners and others against purchasing State property saying that should there be a change of Government decisions will be taken against such deals.
National Peoples Power (NPP) Economic Council member Sunil Handunnetti told the media that the Government was planning to sell State property such as SriLankan Airlines, Telecom, Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and Litro Gas at a bargain to gain commissions knowing that they would not be elected at the next election.
“The Government has no mandate to sell State resources, State institutions or enterprises and added that the present regime must stop plans to hastily sell such property to siphon huge commissions at the eleventh hour.
The people must come forward against any moves to sell off State resources which would affect the people in future generations to come and pointed out that any interested party whether it is India or China must reconsider their plans as a future Government with a mandate would be entrusted with powers to take decisions against such deals”, Hadunhetti said.
The NPP has currently just three slots in the 225-member Parliament but recent opinion polls have indicated that the Party’s support base was increasingly rapidly across all sections of society in the country and an upset victory for the Party could not be ruled out in the upcoming Presidential Elections that must be held before September 20.
Meanwhile Tourism Minister Harin Fernando said that the surge in the support for the National People’s Power (NPP) led by Anura Kumara Dissanayaka can be attributed to the weakness of the Opposition.
“The primary Opposition should be prepared to assume governance. However, this Opposition prepared prematurely. Therefore, the emergence of a third party became prominent as uncertainty loomed over the effectiveness of the Opposition.
As a result, the main Opposition’s only course of action may be to collaborate with the ruling party. If they choose not to unite without careful consideration, several key leaders from the main Opposition may opt to join the Government”, Fernando warned.
