Colombo District UNP Parliamentarian Mohammed Maharoof has threatened to vote against the Mangala-Sripathy sponsored No Confidence Motion against Minister Milinda Moragoda saying such a Motion was ill-advised and that there were other UNP MPs who would boycott the vote.

In a letter addressed to UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe Maharoof also called into question the role of Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathy Sooriyaarachi recalling their statement that it was they who were responsible for his (Wickremesinghe’s) defeat at the Presidential elections at the MOU ceremony of the National Council.

The letter to Wickremesinghe states:

“I was amazed by reading an article in today’s newspaper which was given a lot of prominence in all the national newspapers with regard to former Ministers and UPFA parliamentarians Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathy Sooriyarachchi moving a No Confidence Motion against Milinda Moragoda.

In my opinion, this very Samaraweera and Sooriyaarachi are responsible for the state the country is in today as it was very clearly mentioned by them on forming the National Council that it was they who were responsible for the defeat of the UNP at the last Presidential Elections.

This duo who failed to fulfil their personal agendas in their own party have now joined the UNP to achieve their objectives, the most recent being their No Confidence motion against Moragoda who had been an immense asset to our party.

Permitting them to proceed with this No Confidence Motion will be tantamount to betraying the trust placed by 4.7 million voters towards the UNP at the last Presidential Election.

Moreover it has been proved by the CID that Samaraweera is responsible for forcefully obtaining Rs. 12 million from Lafarge Cement which cheques have been cashed by his Private Secretary who also happens to be a relative of his. This action of his affected me as my wife is a shareholder and such payments have to be borne by the shareholders of this company.

The challenge before this duo should be to bring in more SLFPers to support the UNP prior to the budget and also fulfil the conditions that they promised on signing the MOU to work towards bringing the UNP to Power on the basis of Samaraweera being offered a Deputy Prime Minister slot in a UNP led Government.

Though I have decided to voice my opinion in this communication there are many other UNPers who are silent but think alike. I have always respected the leadership and stood by the leader. Let me also remind you that when the others crossed over I personally made a commitment on the phone to the effect that I would stand by you and the party.

I sincerely hope that we will not be requested to back the proposed No Confidence Motion against Milinda Moragoda since many will not be supportive of such a move.

Instead of creating more damage to our party by accommodating these two persons who in my opinion do not have much political value compared to the 17 who have left us, it would be better to bring back those 17 to build back party unity and strength so that we could be in a strong position to win a future election.
It may also be better idea to offer the deputy premiership to a person who has contributed much to the party or consider personalities such as Rukman Senanayake and Sajith Premadasa whose parents have contribute much of their lifetime to the UNP.