Candidate of the opposition alliance a member of the Rajapaksa family?

COLOMBO (News 1st): A law that treats everyone equally. A future with the hope that the daily hardships of the people will be addressed. These are the issues on the minds of all Sri Lankans. But the problems that our politicians face seem to be completely different. Do they worry about who the next Presidential candidate will be? Is it the younger brother or the elder brother? Or is it a friend? These are the burning issues in the political arena at present. Governor of the Southern province, Keerthi Tennakoon says that the situation has now come to a point where holding the provincial council elections is no longer possible and the only way to obtain a solution is by presenting facts before the supreme court and obtaining their determination. He further said that it is necessary that the President inquires the opinion of the SC and take action based on the determination. Chairman of the SLPP Professor G.L. Peiris says that the provincial council election was supposed to be held two years ago and that the Presidential election is being put under the wraps since everyone is asking for it. He urged the government to hold the election that the country really needs in this moment of time. Minister of Megapolis and Western Development, Patali Champika Ranawaka also speaking on the matter said that they too believe that the provincial council elections should be held immediately and that the parties should be united in parliament, approve the demarcation report and propose the suitable candidates and hold the election with immediate effect. UPFA MP W.D.J. Seneviratne states that although there is now no time for the provincial council elections to be held that the Presidential elections should be definitely held before November. He also said that although during the last time they were expecting Mahinda Rajapaksa to gain a landslide victory that it did not happen so which is why Gotabaya should and will contest this time since he could win. However, P. Harrison states that Gotabaya Rajapaksa will definitely not be fielded for elections this time since there is a huge opposition within the Rajapaksa family itself against this. He added that there is a bigger chance of Chamal Rajapaksa replacing Gota as the Presidential candidate. Meanwhile the Chairman of the National Local Government Federation, Udeni Athukorala says that they are very happy because discussions are focused on bringing Basil Rajapaksa forward and added that he was always committed to what he did and therefore deserves it.