• Vetoes any collaboration with Ranil 
• SJB/SJS to not align with anyone unless they lead
• Nat’l Organiser Tissa Attanayake says no invitation received from anyone & scoffs at reports of same as misleading the public

Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) led Samagi Jana Sandhanaya (SJS) and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa said that he was unanimously chosen as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the SJS for the upcoming General Election. Furthermore, he stated that there will be no collaboration between United National Party (UNP) Leader and former President Ranil Wickremesinghe and him.

The SJB will not enter into any election-related alliances unless it is the leading force of any such alliance, said the SJB Chief Organiser and Opposition Parliamentarian Tissa Attanayake.

Speaking to the media yesterday (24), Attanayake stated that the Party's focus is on strengthening the SJS at the grassroots level ahead of any future elections. He further noted that the SJB remains committed to strengthening its own base rather than joining alliances where it would not play a leading role. 

“We are working to strengthen the SJS/SJA at the grassroots level. Otherwise, we will not be a 'tail' of any alliance,” Attanayake asserted.

Following a meeting held on Monday (23) with Wickremesinghe, a senior UNPer told The Daily Morning that it was decided that the UNP would invite the SJB to form a common platform to contest the upcoming Parliamentary Election.

However, Attanayake emphasised that the SJB has not received any formal invitations to join an election alliance. “No invitation has been received by the SJB regarding such an alliance,” he said. He further suggested that any such reports are likely intended to mislead the public as the country prepares for a potential General Election. Attanayake acknowledged that political factions based on the traditional UNP supporters might have won the recent Presidential Election had they contested as a unified alliance. “If they had contested together, the outcome could have been different,” he admitted.

Meanwhile, he remarked that only one-third of the eligible voters had supported the current administration, indicating that there was a significant portion of the electorate left untapped.