President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his Vesak message called upon all Sri Lankan’s to unite irrespective of of race, religion, caste or political affiliation to heal and rebuild our country.

The full text of  the President’s Vesak message:

“The Vesak festival is a profoundly sacred day for Buddhists worldwide, commemorating the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and passing. Buddhists in Sri Lanka, along with their brethren around the globe, celebrate Vesak with deep devotion. They spend this period engaging in religious observances and venerating the Buddha with fervent devotion.

At this challenging moment, we as a nation should cultivate the same great zeal for enlightenment that Buddha exemplified, inspired by his sermon, “Maththasukha parichchaga- passé che vipulan sukhan” – to sacrifice today for a better tomorrow.

We must remember the advice of Lord Buddha, “Sabbattha Sammanaso,” to treat everyone equally and ensure we put it into practice as a country. This is the greatest offering we can present to the Buddha on this Vesak day. Regardless of race, religion, caste, or political affiliation, we must all . The principles of Lichchavi Raja Dharmaya will guide us in this endeavour.

Let us keep in mind that the primary aim of the Vesak festival is to foster spiritual growth and character development in a world rapidly advancing physically. I wish everyone a blessed Vesak festival”.

SLPP’s call for early general election discarded

by Shamindra Ferdinando

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has concluded talks with the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) regarding the possibility of advancing parliamentary polls, ahead of the Presidential Election.

The Presidential Poll is constitutionally scheduled to be held in Sept/Oct this year whereas the current Parliament can continue till next year.

President Wickremesinghe yesterday told his Cabinet that Presidential Election would be held first, as scheduled, and the required funds had been allocated. The Cabinet met at the Parliament yesterday.

Director General of Information Department Dinith Chinthaka Karunaratne confirmed the presidential declaration. Karunaratne told The Island that a special post-Cabinet media briefing would be held today (23) at the Information Department regarding this.

Over the past several weeks, President Wickremesinghe met SLPP founder Basil Rajapaksa with the latter repeating their demand for early parliamentary polls.

Authoritative SLPP sources told The Island that the ruling party felt that the parliamentary poll should be held first, hence their decision to ask the President to dissolve Parliament.

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader Udaya Gammanpila and Sri Lanka’s former Ambassador in Moscow Udayanga Weeratunga declared that the Parliament would be dissolved soon.

Political sources said that the SLPP faced another major split with a sizable group of parliamentarians throwing their weight behind Wickremesinghe, expected to contest under a symbol other than the ‘lotus bud’ or ‘elephant.’

SJB sources reiterated that they were certain no one would switch allegiance to Wickremesinghe, in addition to Manusha Nanayakkara and Harin Fernando. They accepted ministerial portfolios in May 2022.

By Saman Indrajith

JVP/NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake yesterday warned Parliament of the danger of public administration collapsing owing to ongoing trade union action by the Grama Niladharis (GNs).

Making a special statement, Dissanayake said that the GNs countrywide had resorted to trade union action over several issues including salary anomalies. They recently had a countrywide sick-note campaign and thereafter they commenced a work-to-rule campaign on May 17. This campaign is scheduled to continue till June 2. The GN union collective has warned that if they do not get an acceptable solution by June 2, they would take severe actions.

The Cabinet approved a special salary scheme for the GNs, but the government was delaying its implementation, Dissanayake said. Some of the problems highlighted by the GNs had been there for years without being addressed. There is a danger that the entire administrative sector was coming to a standstill because GN is the lowest rung of the public sector administrative machinery, Dissanayake said.

Home Affairs State Minister Ashoka Priyantha said that the ministry had held several rounds of talks with the GNs on May 2 and May 11. Action had been taken to double the allowances for GNs on May 14. This proposal had been sent to the Public Service Commission on May 20. In addition, the government had recruited more than 1,000 GNs recently. The government’s attention had been drawn to the grievances highlighted by the GNs and it hoped that the GNs would respond accordingly by ending their union action, the minister said.