A former minister says that the common candidate in the 2015 presidential election in Sri Lanka was chosen by the United States. Former Minister Navin Dissanayake made this revelation while participating in an online interview recently, a weekend English newspaper reported.
Navin Dissanayake has stated that the United States had informed that the common candidate in the 2015 presidential election should be a person nominated by former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga as the UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was considered to be incapable of defeating then President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
He has further stated that when the former President suggested that Maithripala Sirisena, who was the Minister of Health at that time, should be the common candidate in the forthcoming Presidential election, it was the US itself that arranged tour for Maithripala Sirisena to visit the United States during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit at that time.
Former Minister Navin Dissanayake has further stated that Ranil Wickremesinghe agreed to Sirisena’s common presidential candidature after meeting Sirisena during this visit to the United States.
