News
Section of SJB behind planned protest – intelligence agencies
By Saman Indrajith
Several political parties have distanced themselves from the planned Arab Spring type protests countrywide on 03 April.
The main Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) itself seems to be divided over the scheduled protests. Other opposition groups including the JVP and its splinter Frontline Socialist Party called on their members not to support or participate in April 3 protests.
The conflict within the SJB started after its leader Sajith Premadasa and senior parliamentarian Dr. Rajitha Senaratne gave voice cuts in support of the protests to be held on 03 April. Social media posts of a mass protest countrywide were first circulated on Monday evening and they went viral by Tuesday evening. Large number of social media activists too shared them and put up posts in support of the protest that seemed to have come up spontaneously.
On Wednesday a Whatsapp group had been created with contact details of orgnanisers at the district level.
Meanwhile, security establishments analysing contact details of the district organisers published in whatsapp groups have found that all 25 district organisers are SJB members and some of them are in the SJB Working Group.
Party sources said that many senior SJB leaders had found fault with its leader and MP Senaratne releasing video clips inviting people to protests and agitations without a mechanism to take the organisational responsibility.
They demanded that party General Secretary MP Ranjith Madduma Bandara hold a press conference and disassociate the party officially from the protest organised by a section of the SJB without consent from the party leadership.
Chief Opposition Whip and SJB Senior MP Lakshman Kiriella said that they had asked their members to support the protest. “This is a protest by the people. It is to express their opposition to the state of affairs in the country. As we are thinking on the same lines there is nothing wrong in our members supporting this protest,” Kiriella said, adding that the SJB was not involved in organising it.
JVP Central Committee member and former MP Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa said that his party had decided not to take part in the protest.
Accepting deposits from political parties and independent groups who intend to contest the forthcoming Local Authorities Election ended at 12noon today [19].
Deposits were accepted at respective District Secretariats from 3rd March 2025.
The Elections Commission has announced that the deadline for the accepting of nominations for the LA poll is set to conclude at 12:00 noon tomorrow (20).
It has been reported that the former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon has appeared before the Matara Magistrate’s Court this morning (19),
The former IGP had been evading arrest after the Matara Magistrate’s court had ordered his arrest regarding a shooting incident that took place in front of the W15 Hotel Pelena, Weligama, Matara, in 2023.
The government has begun recovering funds obtained by former Lands and Land Development, Environment and Wildlife Resources Minister SM Chandrasena for the Janatha Lanka Chilli Marketing Limited (JLCML), which he headed, Parliament was informed yesterday.
Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation Minister Namal Karunaratne said that as the Chairman of JLCML, Chandrasena had obtained a loan of Rs. 1,275,000 from the Mihintale Govijana Seva Bank in 2001.
The principal of the loan had not been repaid until the end of last year. “After we came to power, we demanded that the loan be settled. Then, we discovered that the interest on the loan had not been paid for the past 24 years, and attempts had been made to have the loan written off. We stopped that and are now in the process of recovering the interest of Rs. 1,975,233 on the loan,” Karunaratne said.
Karunaratne added that JLCML was registered as a company with the Registrar of Companies on March 21, 2001. As Chairman of the company, Chandrasena requested a loan of Rs. 10 million on April 19, 2001, for the purpose of purchasing chillies from farmers in 12 farmer colonies in the Mihintale Agrarian Service area.
The request was approved by the Mihintale Agrarian Service Committee on the same day and referred to the Anuradhapura District Agrarian Operations Committee, which approved it on April 23, 2001. However, the Agriculture Development Commissioner General recommended that a loan of Rs. 1.2 million would suffice for this purpose. JLCML took the loan and failed to repay it until the end of last year. When the matter was raised, the principal was paid, and we are now in the process of recovering the interest that was not paid for the past 24 years,” Karunaratne added.
By Saman Indrajith
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