• Sirisena appoints Sarath Ekanayake 

The appointment of Sarath Ekanayake as the Sri Lanka Freedom Party’s (SLFP) Acting General Secretary by SLFP Chairman, former President and incumbent Opposition Parliamentarian Maithripala Sirisena has led to a controversy, with reports having come to light of an alleged conflict between Sirisena and the Party's General Secretary, Opposition MP Dayasiri Jayasekara, which has however, since been denied by Sirisena and the Party.

Ekanayake was appointed by Sirisena as the SLFP Acting General Secretary yesterday (6).

It was reported that Sirisena had made the decision to appoint Ekanayake as the Acting General Secretary after he came to know about an alleged plan made by Jayasekara to appoint those who are loyal to him to the Central Committee of the Party, in an alleged attempt to become the Party Leader.

However, when queried about such reports of a conflict within the SLFP by the media yesterday, Sirisena said: “Who says that there is a conflict? There is nothing as such. The Party's General Secretary is Jayasekara yesterday, today, and tomorrow as well. Ekanayake was appointed as the Acting General Secretary only until Jayasekara's return to the country."

When contacted by The Daily Morning, SLFP Senior Vice President, Prof. Rohana Luxman Piyadasa said that Ekanayake has been appointed to the said position as Jayasekara is currently abroad. He said that it is general practice for the Party to make acting appointments. However, a source close to the SLFP told The Daily Morning that it is somewhat strange for such an appointment to be made.

Meanwhile, the SLFP had issued a statement on the incident last evening, which read: “The reports published in some mainstream media and social media that Jayasekara has been removed from the post of the General Secretary of the SLFP, and has been replaced by Ekanayake as the Acting General Secretary are completely false and baseless, and the SLFP rejects all such reports. Jayasekara left for the United Kingdom last morning for a personal visit, and he is scheduled to return on 20 March. Ekanayake has been appointed as the Party's Acting General Secretary only to oversee the work of Jayasekara until his return.”