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LSSP criticises TNA call for federalism

The Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) has stated it is against federalism and criticised the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) call for devolution.

Leader of the LSSP Tissa Vitharana said at a press conference that his party was “displeased” and that they “condemn the call for a Federal State by the TNA at this crucial juncture”.

Mr Vitharana went on to accuse the TNA of fuelling “racist elements in the South”. The LSSP joins a wide range of other Sinhalese parties across the political spectrum to have spoken out against devolving powers to the North-East, a key demand in the TNA election manifesto.

His comments came as he called on the public to vote against the UNP in the upcoming general election, stating that the United States wants to establish military bases in Sri Lanka and the UNP had agreed to do so.

“The senior military official in charge of South East Asia and the ambassador have publicly said that they intend on including Sri Lanka in its security ring in this part of the region,” said Mr Vitharana. “This is nothing but a clear indication that they want to establish a military base”.

“The UNP seems to have come into an agreement with the US regarding this because the statements have made recently anticipating a UNP win and following the last election,” he added. “There were secret agreements in 2002 when they came into power and there is a good chance that such agreements have been drawn now”.

He said that only Sri Lanka’s leftist party and the Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP) had fought to free the island from “imperialist forces” and that a UNP victory at the election would see those forces return.

Also see our earlier posts:

Sinhala nationalist organisations rally against federalism (30 Jul 2015)

UNP reiterates rejection of federal solution (29 Jul 2015)

JVP slams TNA manifesto and opposes federalism (29 July 2015)

UPFA election manifesto limits political solution to ethnic conflict to 13A (28 Jul 2015)

Sri Lankan MP says TNA manifesto threatens country's sovereignty (26 July 2015)

TNA manifesto calls for constitutional change that accepts Tamil right to self-determination (25 July 2015)

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