The Maharajas have been directing fire at the UNP and to me personally after their request to appoint two people to the party National List was denied, Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe revealed today.

Speaking at a press briefing held in Colombo today (August 16) the Opposition Leader said that the UNP Working Committee will meet tomorrow (August 17) to appoint the Nomination Board to select candidates and to decide on how the party conducts the elections for October while the organization programme will be approved tomorrow.

Ranil stated that if they do not appoint the Nomination Board tomorrow the party will run short of the time to do our nominations which will cause chaos and will only benefit President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Responding to an advertisement which appeared on Sirasa regarding a UNP Sathyagraha, the Opposition Leader said that no such Sathyagraha has been organized by the party while no one has been asked to come to Colombo to participate in it. He added that if the UNP is to organize something of this nature it would be advertised through the other electronic media channels as well.

“We have always stood for media freedom. After the last parliamentary election, Maharajas wanted me to nominate two people who were not even activists to the party National List which I refused to do. From that time onwards this fire has been directed at the UNP and me personally,” he stated at the press conference.

He added that many media organizations are dabbling in other business as well while stating that the UNP or any other political party cannot be bought over like another business as it belongs to the people.