Amarasinghe to address UPFA's first national convention

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 2004, 01:01 GMT]
Exiled leader of the Sinhala nationalist Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Mr.Somawanse Amarasinghe who returned to Sri Lanka on Tuesday, will appear in public on January 29 to address the first national convention of the newly formed United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in Colombo, party sources said.

A decision to the effect was taken at a top-level meeting held in a leading hotel in Colombo where Mr. Amarasinghe has been staying under heavy security by JVP volunteers since his arrival in Colombo, sources said.

He discussed in detail with his party stalwarts the political strategy to be followed with the formation of the new political alliance by the Sri Lanka Freedom party, chief constituent of the main opposition Peoples Alliance (PA) and the JVP, sources said.

The JVP has already alerted its branches across the island to make arrangements to ensure large attendance for the first national convention of the UPFA which is scheduled to be held in Colombo to show the strength of the newly formed alliance, party sources said.

Meanwhile, Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge in the capacity of the President of the PA has instructed all PA parliamentarians to obtain prior permission from the general secretary of the PA Mr.D.M.Jayaretna before addressing meetings organized by other political parties. She issued this directive at a meeting held on Monday at the Presidential Secretariat, according to Mr.D.M.Jayaretna. This directive has been issued to prevent some parliamentarians making statements on the peace process, which could embarrass the newly formed political alliance, sources said.