Sirisena says Rajapaksa will be defeated again

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena today said he never supported Mahinda Rajapaksa’s nomination for the August elections and that his predecessor will lose again.

“Mahinda Rajapaksa who lost on January 8, will be defeated again. I will not make him the Prime Minister even if my party wins the election,” Sirisena said in a televised address.

Sirisena, who came under fire for allowing Rajapaksa to contest election, was making his first public appearance since his controversial decision which angered most of his supporters. It even led to the formation of a new anti-Rajapaksa coalition.

“I was all along opposing Mahinda Rajapaksa’s nomination. I flatly rejected the proposal to make him the prime minister,” Sirisena said.

He said he was coming under increasing pressure from his Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and its broader United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) coalition to allow Rajapaksa to contest election.

“I finally told them to do whatever they wished,” he said, adding that he did not want to cause a division in the party by being too adamant.