“Harin became Chief Minister in people’s hearts”
September 24, 2014 04:59 pm
UNP Uva Provincial Council member elect Harin Fernando says that the government has failed to change the opinion of the people by distributing appliances, drought relief and Samurdhi loans ahead of the election.
“That is the people’s opinion. The country belongs to the people and the people have proven that,” he said.
Fernanado, who resigned from Parliament to contest as the UNP’s Chief Ministerial candidate for the Uva Provincial Council, received the highest number of preferential votes (173,993) in the Badulla District while the ruling party’s CM candidate Shashindra Rajapaksa received 96,619 preferential votes.
The UPFA managed to secure a victory in the provincial polls, however the opposition party made a massive gain when compared to the votes it had received at the 2009 election.
The UNP more than doubled its votes in the Province winning 274,773 votes in Uva election as opposed to the 129,144 it got at the 2009 election.
The party secured 13 seats, 6 more than the 7 seats it won in 2009.
“Somebody can say that Harin did not become the Chief Minister. That is true. Harin did not become the Chief Minister on paper, but Harin became the Chief Minister inside the people’s hearts,” Fernando told reporters in Colombo.
He said that Minister Susil Premajayantha, the General Secretary of the UPFA, does not even raise his head when talking anymore and that this “victory” has hit him to such a level that he is unable to talk with his head held high.
The former MP stated that he is proud that the UNP was able to win the electorates of the district’s most prominent Ministers: Nimal Siripala de Silva and Dilan Perera.
He stated that his only regret is the fact that a few individuals in the Badulla District, distraught by the UNP’s victory, have resorted to launching attacks against the party.
Harin Fernando stated that so far 14 of his supporters are in hospital as a result of such attacks, which he blamed on the government.
