- UNP General Secretary says no decision made yet
- Rosy confirms plans to contest
- SJB nominee Mujibur says he’s sacrificing MP seat for ‘people/party’
Despite the incumbent Mayor of Colombo Rosy Senanayake expressing her interest in contesting as the mayoral candidate at the upcoming Local Government (LG) poll, the United National Party (UNP) has not made a decision regarding fielding the incumbent Mayor as the party’s mayoral candidate.
Speaking to The Morning, UNP General Secretary Palitha Range Bandara said yesterday that discussions are underway in this regard. When queried as to whether the UNP is considering fielding Senanayake as the mayoral candidate, Range Bandara said that no special discussions were underway with regard to the same.
However, when queried by The Morning, if she had decided to contest at the upcoming poll, Senanayake said: “Yes, I have.”
These comments came one day after Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Opposition MP Mujibur Rahman was nominated as his party’s mayoral candidate for Colombo.
Also speaking to The Morning, Rahman said yesterday that he would sacrifice his MP seat and post to contest at the LG poll as the mayoral candidate for Colombo.
“It is a big sacrifice. I’m doing this on behalf of the other MPs and the party. We have to capture the Colombo Municipality. I want to do a better job for the CMC area people. It is also on behalf of them that I am contesting. During the last Parliamentary election, we beat the UNP in the CMC area. Even the UNP Leader, President Ranil Wickremesinghe, contested from my electorate, Colombo Central. I think that even this time, we can beat the UNP not only in the CMC area, but the whole island. When we were in the UNP in 2018, we worked hard and Senanayake became Mayor with our support. I will definitely win.”
Senanayake was nominated as the UNP’s Mayoral candidate at the 2018 LG poll, and she won the Colombo Municipality, while Rahman contested at the last General Election from the SJB ticket in the Colombo District and won his seat.