Slmc Issues Ultimatum To The Government

By Dinouk Colombage

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress will consider contesting the upcoming Eastern Provincial Council elections independently if the government does not agree to their conditions.
SLMC General Secretary Hassen Ali, explained that the party was in the process of drafting a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which would be handed over to the government.
“The MoU outlines the conditions by which we expect the UPFA to agree with if we are to contest alongside them,” he said.
Ali further added that if the government is unable to agree to these conditions then the party would not be contesting the election under the UPFA ticket. “We will not be requesting the chief ministers’  post as we expect the government to offer us that position,” he said.
Ali added that if this post was not offered to them, the party would have to reconsider whether or not they contest alongside the ruling party. The SLMC is expected to hand over the MoU to the government this week.
The government information department had announced last week that several regional politicians of other political parties  have decided to support the ruling alliance in the forthcoming election for the Eastern Provincial Council.
The UPFA is to finalise its list of candidates for the polls this week and the the party has appointed three committees headed by the Ministers Nimal Siripala de Silva, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa and W.D.J. Seneviratne to select the prospective candidates.
Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva is heading the selection board for the Eastern Provincial Council. Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa is the chairman of the selection board for the Sabaragamuwa Province, while Minister John Senevirathne is heading the selection board for the North Central Province.