Weerawanse eyes Prime Minister post, says Anura Bandaranaike

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 October 2005, 19:57 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Foreign Minister and the prime ministerial candidate of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Mr. Anura Bandaranaike, has sought help from his sister and the incumbant President of Sri Lanka, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, to thwart an alleged attempt by a section of SLFP to appoint Mr. Wimal Weerawanse as the candidate for the Prime Minister portfolio if Rajapakse is elected as President of Sri Lanka, SLFP sources said. Weerawanse is the propaganda secretary of the Sinhala nationalist extremist Janatha Vimukthi Permuna (JVP).

Wimal Weerawanse is being considered as the next prime minister if Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse is elected as next President of Sri Lanka, Anura Bandaranaike has told Ms Kumaratunga.

Anura Bandaranaike stated in his letter that the central committee of the SLFP, with the incumbent Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse being the presidential candidate, has nominated him earlier for the post of Prime Minister.

However, a section of the SLFP has been acting in contrary to the central committee decision and is attempting to appoint Weerawanse as Prime Minister.

Bandaranaike has sought help from his sister and the leader of the party Kumaratunga to defeat the alleged attempt and to safeguard the SLFP being sidelined on this issue, political sources said.

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