JHU leaders welcome Mahinda's candidature

BY CHAMIKARA Weerasinghe

JATHIKA Hela Urumaya leader Ven. Ellawala Medhananda Mahanayaka Thera yesterday said that he would like to extend his personal greetings to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse over his nomination as the presidential candidate of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and said that he would anticipate that Rajapakse would not get carried away by the current of so called post-tsunami politics.

However, the Thera said that JHU as a political party was prepared to support the SLFP candidate for presidency only if he was prepared to accept the "five fold principles" which he said that the JHU had already communicated to him for his comments.

The thera said he believes that Rajapakse would not follow the footsteps of J.R. Jayawardene and Ranil Wickremesinghe.

"I believe Rajapakse can make a change in the political sphere of Sri Lanka as a leader, " he said.

We expect the new candidate to come out with a comprehensive programme to address the country's terrorism-related issues and to promote unity among its various communities, he said.

"What Rajapakse would propose to the country as his programme or vision to move the country forward would be the basis on which we would support him for the presidency."

"We have every reason to support him should he accept the five-fold principles declared by us," Ven. Medhananda Thera said.