report in Daily FT, Apr 28, 2023
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) has refuted media reports which claimed the party has joined a new alliance formed by the main Opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) led by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa.
Issuing a statement yesterday, the SLFP admitted it attended a meeting between the SJB, other parties and groups in the Opposition on 24 April but said at no time did it agree to join any alliance. “The meeting was held on 24 April in the Parliament committee room. A lengthy discussion was held on the Anti-Terrorism Act and the IMF,” it read.
However, as claimed in news reports and bulletins, the party said there was no forming of an alliance with Sajith Premadasa or any other party representing the Opposition in Parliament. The SLFP said therefore this news of the SLFP joining an alliance which is being disseminated by the Government is entirely false.
Quoting SJB’s Lakshman Kiriella, on 24 April many media reports said all parties of the Opposition had agreed to join an Alliance led by the SJB. Kiriella said that all political party leaders in the Opposition took part in the discussions and it was agreed to organise a program to oppose the upcoming repressive Bills.
He was quoted as saying: “Today we discussed forming a joint pposition alliance under the leadership of Sajith Premadasa. All the political party leaders in the Opposition expressed their agreement for that purpose. There are also some people who defected from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).”
“This alliance will last until the next presidential election,” he had added. The meeting was attended by several Opposition party leaders including Dullas Alahapperuma, Prof G.L. Peiris, Mano Ganeshan and Udaya Gammanpila.
However representatives of the National People’s Power or the Tamil National Alliance did not attend. Premadasa speaking to the media afterwards said the Opposition parties had a fruitful meeting on how to act collectively against oppressive Bills.
https://www.ft.lk/news/SLFP-denies-joining-new-alliance-led-by-Sajith/56-747750
