Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa told a divisional meeting in Jandure, Angunakolapelessa, in the Hambantota district, that voters who abandoned the party at recent elections are coming back to it, and that the government has broken the promises it made to young people.
Two newsrooms covered the same meeting from different angles: Hiru News reported the attack on the government’s record with the young, and the Daily Mirror reported the claim about returning supporters.
”Joining hands with our camp once again”
Rajapaksa said the SLPP had been touring villages to rebuild contact with voters.
“We have now gone from village to village as a party to many districts in Sri Lanka. Today we see that many people who distanced themselves from us in the past elections are joining hands with our camp once again,” he said, the Daily Mirror reported.
He attributed the shift to two things at once. “On the one hand, there is trust in us, and on the other hand, there is distrust in the government,” he said.
He also argued the government’s standing had eroded unusually fast. “Normally, it takes time for people to get tired of a government. But since the day this government came to power, the people have been tired of it,” he said.
Jobs and vehicles
Rajapaksa accused the administration of systematically dismantling the aspirations of the country’s youth, saying it had won support with hollow promises on employment and vehicle imports, Hiru News reported.
Graduates seeking work had met state hostility rather than opportunities, he said, facing physical confrontation and reprimands when they approached authorities for help.
On vehicles, he said young people had expected to buy cars such as the Honda Fit for around Rs. 1.2 million, and that those expectations “vanished into thin air” as officials walked back what was feasible, leaving prospective buyers empty-handed.
He called on the government to account for its unfulfilled pledges and to address the pressures facing young people, farmers and others.
What is not established
Neither report carried a government response, and neither tested the central claim. Rajapaksa offered no membership numbers, election data or other evidence that former SLPP voters are returning, and no outlet reported any polling that would support or contradict it. Nor did either report give the source of the Rs. 1.2 million figure for a Honda Fit, or say which official had described that price as feasible.
The SLPP’s own recent electoral record is not addressed in either account.
Context
The vehicle-price complaint runs into a structural argument made the same week by the brokerage JB Securities, which said Sri Lanka’s practice of taxing vehicles by engine displacement distorts the market — keeping popular hybrids out while favouring electric models. Pre-owned car registrations in July were dominated by small Suzuki, Toyota and Nissan models rather than by any easing of prices. Neither outlet connected Rajapaksa’s remarks to that reporting.
The appeal to a younger constituency is a continuing theme for the party. In June, Namal and Basil Rajapaksa were reported pitching the SLPP at a younger generation, and Namal has previously framed the party’s position as learning from past mistakes.
