The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) has decided to suspend the party membership of its onetime leader, former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, and all SLFP members and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)-elected MPs who recently accepted Cabinet and State Ministerial positions contrary to the decision of the Central Committee of the SLFP.

When contacted by The Morning, SLFP Senior Vice President Prof. Rohana Luxman Piyadasa said that the decision to suspend the party membership of Kumaratunga and SLFP Members and SLPP-elected MPs who recently accepted Cabinet and State Ministerial posts in the Government led by President Ranil Wickremesinghe was taken at the SLFP’s Central Committee meeting held last evening (21).

Another SLFP official, when contacted by The Morning, said that the decision to suspend the party membership of SLFP MPs and Kumaratunga was unanimously approved by the majority of the Central Committee members.

When asked what would happen to Kumaratunga’s lifetime status as a patron of the SLFP after the suspension of her party membership, he stated that all positions held by any member in the party would automatically be cancelled with the suspension of party membership.

According to him, Ministers Nimal Siripala de Silva and Mahinda Amaraweera (who were SLFP Senior Vice Presidents), State Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna (who was the SLFP Treasurer), State Ministers Ranjith Siyambalapitiya and Chamara Sampath Dasanayake (who were SLFP Vice Presidents), and State Minister Jagath Pushpakumara (who was the SLFP Vice Secretary) have also been removed from the respective positions upon suspension of their party membership.

Kumaratunga, the daughter of the founder of the SLFP, slain Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, also served as the party’s Chairperson from 1994 to 2006. She took the initiative to bring then-Minister Maithripala Sirisena to power in 2015. However, with the decision of the SLFP to support then-presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the 2019 Presidential election and to form an alliance with the SLPP in the 2020 Parliamentary election, Kumaratunga was seen openly criticising the actions of Sirisena, who is currently the SLFP Chairman, as well as the senior members of the party.

The conflict between the SLFP and Kumaratunga reached its climax when the current SLFP hierarchy led by Sirisena commemorated slain Premier Bandaranaike, late Premier Sirimavo Bandaranaike, and late Speaker of Parliament Anura Bandaranaike at the BMICH in Colombo, while the main event to commemorate the same was held at the Bandaranaike Memorial in Horagolla, Nittambuwa, with the participation of Kumaratunga and her sister Sunethra Bandaranaike.

Wickremesinghe had recently invited several political parties, including the SLFP, to support the Government. In response to the invitation, the SLFP announced that it would support any progressive decision that would be taken by the Government to resolve the prevailing crisis without taking up ministerial posts. However, SLFP Members and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)-elected MPs de Silva, Amaraweera, Alagiyawanna, Siyambalapitiya, Dasanayake, and Pushpakumara accepted Ministerial and State Ministerial posts under the Government led by Wickremesinghe.

Furthermore, several amendments were recently implemented to the party constitution of the SLFP, including a clause empowering the party’s Chairman to remove any officer or member at their discretion. Despite opposition from several members of the SLFP’s Parliamentary group such as de Silva, Amaraweera and Dassanayake, the amendments were passed by the party’s Central Committee and its All-Ceylon Committee. https://www.themorning.lk/cbk-suspended-from-slfp/