"Only Ranil can replace people’s despair with hope"

(January 02, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Mr. Sathasivam ,a Presidential adviser under Mahinda Rajapakse until just a few days ago, and now contesting the up coming Provincial Council elections as a UNP candidate for Nuwara Eliya , addressing a Media briefing at the UINP Leader’s office at Cambridge place today (2 Jan) , stated emphatically that his years of office with the President only went to confirm that it is only the UNP and its Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe who can put the country on the right track.

It is while being with the UNP from the days of Gramodaya , he rose to the post of Minister .Later , he joined the President because the latter promised to solve the Estate plantation workers problems which sector Mr. Satahasivam represents. The President failed to solve any of the problems , neither did he in the budget talk of the Estate workers or the solutions for their dire sufferings.

Though it is the Estate workers who are the main foreign exchange earners , the Govt. turns a deaf ear to their woes. These workers have no means even for their meals. This problem is compounded by the Tea Industry devastation owing to Govt.’s inefficiency, he added.

It is only the UNP that can solve the problems of the country and the ethnic issue . This Govt.’s incapacity to find a political solution is escalating the war and the ethnic issue, and is the root cause of all the problems in the country.

Explaining why he joined the UNP, he said, SB Dissanayake as the UNP Chief Ministerial candidate for Nuwara Eliya is a source of strength coupled with the able Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe of integrity and efficiency, prompted him to make this sacrifice of the advisor post in the interest of the Estate workers. - Sri Lanka Guardian