By Shamindra Ferdinando
SJB MP Mujibur Rahman yesterday (5) alleged that President Ranil Wickremesinghe camp was trying to engineer his arrest in connection with 2019 Easter Sunday carnage.The former UNPer claimed that he was being targeted in a bid to tarnish the SJB presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa’s image in the run-up to the forthcoming presidential election.
Claiming that on behalf of the government, an interested party had met a person now in Welikada remand for a period of five years for his alleged involvement in Easter Sunday conspiracy, the Colombo District MP said that he would lodge a complaint with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) soon.
“I raised this issue in Parliament on Wednesday (4) to draw Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena’s attention to the conspiracy against me,” MP Rahman said, urging President Wickremesinghe’s supporters not to resort to such dirty tactics.
MP Rahman who first entered parliament in 2015 switched his allegiance to Sajith Premadasa when the UNP Deputy Leader formed SJB soon after his defeat at the 2019 Nov presidential election. The MP alleged that the UNP couldn’t bear the fact that the breakaway faction was now ahead in the presidential election.
Rahman alleged in Parliament, on Tuesday, that former minister Manusha Nanayakkara, accompanied by a person identified as Aslam, had met the suspect held at Welikada, where he was promised a range of benefits if he helped implicate the SJB MP in the Easter Sunday attacks.
Nanayakkara, the ex-Galle district MP neither answered his phone nor responded to our query sent to him via WhatsApp.
The Supreme Court recently upheld SJB’s decision to expel Manusha Nanayakkara and Harin Fernando for switching their allegiance to President Wickremesinghe, and they lost their parliamentary seats.
President Wickremesinghe should be held responsible for the conduct of those spearheading his campaign, said Rahman, adding that he feared for his life.
The SJBer said that he had turned down an invitation from Wickremesinghe in his capacity as Premier during Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidency and as President to join the government. How could I be punished for declining the UNP leader’s invitation? MP Rahman asked.
SJB candidate Sajith Premadasa recently assured Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of a fresh and thorough investigation into Easter Sunday attacks. JVP/NPP candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake and SLPPer Namal Rajapaksa, too, have made similar promises. Independent candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe also met the Catholics Bishops’ Conference.
However, the Catholic Church has declared that it wouldn’t endorse any presidential candidate.
