JHU to meet Mahinda, Ranil

BY CHAMIKARA Weerasinghe

THE leadership of Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) will meet SLFP presidential candidate Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse today (29) at Temple Trees for a discussion that will decide the JHU's support for Rajapakse in the upcoming Presidential Election.

JHU General Secretary Champaka Ranawaka said the meeting would be very important as it will determine whether their party (JHU) should nominate their own candidate for the forthcoming election or not.

Commenting on the chances of JHU supporting Rajapakse at the election, Ranawaka said they were very much inclined to support him on the extent to which he accepts the five-fold policies of the JHU.

"The policies on terrorism and territorial integrity will be paramount in the context," he said.

The JHU General Secretary said that they had also been invited by Opposition Leader Ranil Wickramasinghe for talks based on the same objective.

"We will meet the Opposition Leader Wickramasinghe tomorrow," he said.

"We will announce our position on the matter of extending our support to a presidential candidate after these talks. The announcement will be made on September 4," he said.

He said that the JHU was more likely to nominate their own candidate should their discussions with the SLFP and UNP candidates be unsuccessful.

Asked about the fate of the JHU's ambition to nominate a common presidential candidate for the election with the consent of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Ranawaka said they did not get any favourable response from the JVP on the matter after they invited the JVP for talks on this respect. "However, we like to keep that option open," he added.