The Hon. D.V. Chanaka

¶ 01 [2.01 p.m.]

¶ 02 Thank you, Hon. Presiding Member. First, my thanks to the people of Hambantota and across Sri Lanka who voted for our party at the local elections. The SLPP fell from 30 per cent in the 2020 parliamentary election to 2.5 per cent in the presidential—an unprecedented drop. Seven months ago, my biggest worry was even finding ten candidates for nominations. Yet within seven months, the SLPP achieved the largest growth in votes and vote share in this past election cycle. I thank the nearly one million voters who supported us even when we lacked organizers and had only three MPs here.

¶ 03 To the Deputy Minister who smiles: in 2016 and 2018 we won 226 local bodies. Your side had 6 per cent then; it took you 60 years to reach 60 per cent and form a government. We lifted ours from 2.5 per cent to over 10 per cent and nearly a million votes in seven months. Some laughed when we were at 2.5–3 per cent. Keep laughing—we will keep rising.

¶ 04 Turnout fell nationwide, yet we added over 600,000 votes. Some now court “independents” at night to form councils—the very people they once called thieves. They fear phone recordings and arrive at homes to avoid evidence, but CCTV exists. We have one such tape and will release it soon.

¶ 05 You expected 70 per cent as your party secretary Tilvin Silva claimed; you did not get it. Hence the sudden rush to set up Civil Defence Committees or Public Security Committees with political interference. A circular signed by a DIG now mandates Development Committee Chairmen to participate in village security committees—politicizing what should be led by religious leaders, officials, and volunteers. Police and village security should not be politicized; even the “Clean Sri Lanka” participation is being forced. Stop this.

¶ 06 Your MPs say only “small issues” remain—no coconuts, no rice, no salt. For the people, that is not small. Why did salt prices jump from Rs. 100 per kilo to Rs. 300–400? There are five main salt-producing sites: Mannar (6,500 MT), Hambantota (60,000 MT), Elephant Pass (17,000 MT), Bundala (18,000 MT), Palatupana (22,000 MT)—almost 100,000 MT capacity. If production lagged for three months, why did you wait to import until after prices quadrupled? Now you open imports without tender, aiming to sell at the higher price and skim hundreds of millions—another scam like with rice. This is what the people face.

¶ 07 Thank you.