LSSP unhappy over being cold shouldered on Cabinet portfolio

BY SURESH PERERA

The Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) expressed bitterness over the denial of a Cabinet portfolio to its leader in recognition of the role the Trotskyists played in the hustings to ensure the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) cantered home with an overwhelming majority.

“We actively supported the SLPP’s hectic parliamentary polls campaign in anticipation of a Cabinet slot just as much as the other constituent parties”, LSSP sources said.

“While the other partners in the alliance have been rewarded for their efforts, we have been left out in the cold”, the sources complained.

The LSSP was targeting the Science and Technology Cabinet portfolio for the party’s leader Prof. Tissa Vitarana, a position he held during the previous Mahinda Rajapaksa presidency.

Though there is speculation that Vitarana will be absorbed into the Cabinet later as the portfolio still remains vacant, LSSP sources said there has been no official intimation so far on a pending appointment.

Asked why the LSSP, as a constituent party of the alliance, was not considered for a Cabinet portfolio, Vitarana said that he was unaware of the reason, but was optimistic that justice would prevail.

“We threw our weight behind the SLPP and worked hard with the other parties to ensure its victory at the last parliamentary election”, he said.

Founded in 1935 by Leslie Goonewardene, Dr. N. M. Perera, Colvin R. de Silva, Philip Gunawardena and Robert Gunawardena in then British Ceylon, the LSSP is the oldest political party in Sri Lanka.