The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) on Monday strongly rejected a Sunday newspaper report alleging internal tensions and a physical altercation during a meeting at its Pelawatte party office, calling the account “completely false” and a fabrication with no basis in fact.
In a statement issued on May 18, the JVP said the item, carried under the headline “Who kicked a chair at the Pelawatte meeting?” in the newspaper’s political gossip column, had invented an incident that did not occur. The report had claimed that disagreements emerged over the appointment of Eran Wickramaratne to head the Sri Lanka Cricket transformation drive and over proposals to bring opposition figures into government positions, allegedly leading to tensions and an individual kicking a chair.
The JVP said no such incident or debate had taken place within either the party or the National People’s Power (NPP). It also denied that discussions were underway to bring opposition MPs into the government, stating that the NPP’s policy opposes political crossovers and supports legal reforms to prevent MPs switching sides.
Wickramaratne was appointed based on suitability for the role and not as part of any political arrangement, the party added. He has previously been the subject of ICC engagement at the presidential level over the SLC transformation programme and was an SJB MP who quit the party last year.
The denial is the most pointed JVP pushback in recent weeks against political-gossip coverage. Coming days after another political-column scoop floated speculation of NPP-opposition realignment, the statement appears designed to lock down the party’s public line ahead of a series of upcoming parliamentary appointments and policy moves.
Source: Newswire.
