SLFP members in LG Bodies can vote on free will – Minister

Sri Lanka Freedom Party members will be given the opportunity to vote independently in future Budgets of Local Government Bodies, Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said on Friday. Amaraweera stated that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party will not exert any pressure on those Members.

The Budget will be presented to the Local Government bodies in the future. Our party will allow SLFP councillors to cast their votes at their will, he said.He was speaking at a discussion with SLFP Local Government members in Anuradhapura on Friday (19).

“The SLFP Central Committee has not yet given the opportunity to the members of the local government bodies and the district organizers to represent the SLFP Central Committee.“We have decided to form special forums in the future and give the officers who are appointed to them an opportunity to represent the Central Committee”, he said.

He said that the SLFP will never support Sajith Premadasa’s Party or the UNP. He said that as SLFPers they have to move forward by strengthening the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.”Our Party members did a lot to bring this government into power, he said.

Amaraweera added that there are times when SLFP members have worked harder than the organizers of Pohottu to get a Two Thirds majority in this government. “We appreciate the good things of the government and will not keep our mouths shut when we see mistakes.We submitted a scientific report on the issue of the Kotelawala Education issue and requested the President to suspend it.

“We also made a request to the President regarding this issue of organic fertilizer.The farmer with the hoe should be on the farm. Otherwise, not on the road. But who brought them to the road the farmer who was supposed to be on the farm? Some people say that there is a politics behind this. Politics was there because the farmer had a problem with fertilizer. We started this organic farming.