Minister K. D. Lal Kantha says the National People’s Power will set up a party branch in every Grama Seva division in the country, and bring those local units into the work of governance.
Speaking at a public meeting, the minister said the arrangement would connect the party’s people on the ground to the governing process, Hiru News reported.
“Let’s say a branch of the National People’s Power in every Grama Seva division. We are building the Malimawa’s village institution. We are a governing party now. The NPP group in a given Grama Seva division has to be brought into this governance process. Only then do the necessary things get done from the top right down to the bottom.”
“Malimawa” — the compass — is the NPP’s electoral symbol and is widely used as shorthand for the party itself.
Why the unit matters
The Grama Seva division, administered by a Grama Niladhari, is the smallest unit of Sri Lanka’s state administration. It is the level at which residents obtain character certificates, residence confirmations, electoral documentation and access to welfare schemes, which makes it the point where party structures and state administration would sit closest together.
The report does not say how the proposed branches would relate to the Grama Niladhari officers themselves, who are public servants, nor whether the party envisages any formal role for branch members in state functions as distinct from political organisation.
Lal Kantha, a Kandy district MP, has served as Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation since November 2024.
Not reported
The filing gives no timeline, no cost, and no indication of how many branches exist already or how many would be created. It does not say where the meeting was held, identify the audience, or record any comment from opposition parties or from officials’ trade unions. Whether the proposal has been adopted as party policy, or reflects one minister’s position, is not stated.
Single verified source. A search on Friday evening found no other verified newsroom carrying the remarks; the Daily Mirror and Hiru rails held no second filing on them.