Somawansa has become a puppet of JVP’s UNP sympathizers - Nandana

by Saman Indrajith

JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe has become a puppet in the hands of a powerful segment within the party which is fast becoming a crutch to the main Opposition UNP, General Secretary of the newly formed National Freedom Front and one time JVP Presidential candidate, parliamentarian Nandana Gunatilake said yesterday.

"In the issue of ousting Wimal Weerawansa and others, who dissented against this conspiracy, Comrade Amarasinghe was used to the hilt. He, who once led the campaign of rebuilding the party from ruins, came under the pressure of several conspirators and cracked. He let the conspirators take control and is now politically assassinated," Gunatilake told a media conference at the National Library and Documentation Center in Colombo.

The conspirators within the party had been bought over by the UNP to destroy the JVP, he said. "Comrade Amarasinghe, by giving into the conspirators is also partially responsible for the crisis the party faces today," he said.

Gunatilake said there was speculation in the media recently that Somawansa Amarasinghe would be replaced at the fifth JVP convention scheduled to be held today.


"If these reports were true, it indicates that the conspirators had fully used Comrade Amarasinghe and his use has come to an end. For the next step they need a conspirator at the helm and soon Amarasinghe would be sent abroad to spend the rest of his life there. The fifth convention would be made use as a stage to legitimize this conspiracy and that would complete the first phase of the betrayal of the party into the hands of UNP," he said.